DxD - The Last Amagiri
by HolyKnightX
Summary: Losing his clansmen, then his mother, Kensei Amagiri, is later brought to an isolated island where Kensei is forced to fight for survival along with his adoptive sister and friends. Though, after he returned to the Human World near death by the Old Devils, Kensei encounters a legend who will assist him in taking his life back into his own hands.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

For most normal children, they would be sleeping soundly in their warm beds at home, then waking up catching the scent of breakfast being cooked by their mom. Then after saying goodbye to their parents, you would leave for school with their friends. Getting through their classes, they would go play at the park with their friends before going back home to join their parents for dinner, while they ask them about their day.

That would be the perfect and normal life―

* * *

For those living on Hagun Island, an unknown island located on the further coast of Japan and hidden from the outside world using magic techniques. The children who lived on this island never experienced the luxurious life that they desired. Around the island were children appearing to be between the ages of seven to thirteen who currently worked in the fields on the island to forced to grow their food to survive.

Most of them at this age would normally appear to be tired, but at this point, they were all used to this type of labor by now. Wrapped tightly around their wrist was a bracelet invented using magic, these bracelets were placed on them to keep them under control. Each of them knew this was the only choice either of them had, especially since none of them had parents or families looking for them. They were either abandoned by or even sold for money.

[If you still want to make a bet on who you think will win, then you'd better hurry before the start of the match.]

The children could hear the sound of the announcer from where they stood. In the middle of this island, there was a town where they could find opportunities to earn money by doing jobs and buying anything that they would need. Built-in this town was a circular stadium with different holographic screens floating around before them with the stadium in full view. Those who filled the stands were adults who were mainly middle-aged men.

Most of them gave off a different kind of presence that didn't seem to belong to any normal human, but a good number of them were indeed humans with an unusual aura that covered their bodies.

For the children forced to live on this island, there were only two methods for them to earn any money or to live; one of them is to work in the towns, growing their food, and then the quickest way was to fight in this tournament.

* * *

The Nether Realm Tournament―Gehenna.

An underground tournament that is held in the human world where individuals gather children with special powers and have them fight. Either against one another or against monsters with bets being made on the victor, along with certain individuals paying to view this tournament firsthand. This place is perfect for those obsessed with their greed.

[Hello our adoring audience! Welcome back to our wonderful tournament. Today we have our house favorite―]

Inside of a barely lit hallway leading towards the spacious tournament ring, walking towards the light at the end of the hallway a young boy who seemed to be the age of 10. Finally, he stepped outside for the entire stadium to see. He was a black-haired boy with gray eyes that displayed his determined nature and clothing that seemed specifically made for combat yet didn't hinder his movements; sheathed on his side was a sword that didn't seem to be anything special.

[Welcome one of our favorite combatants in Gehenna. Kensei Amagiri!]

Kensei walked on the steps of the ring stepping into the arena for the entire stadium to see. Most of those in the stadium cheered loudly seeing him, while some glanced at him with questioning glances.

"Is that their combatant?"

"From the data that they have on him, he is the last descendant of a clan who specializes in slaying demons and exorcising evil spirits. Aside from that, there isn't much special about him."

"Is this some kind of joke? If he had a sacred gear than it may have been interesting."

Some individuals were new to this kind of gambling laughed at the thought of Kensei even competing. Though they did gather human children to work in the fields, those children did still have the chance to compete in the Gehenna Tournament to make more money.

[Well, without further ado lets get this started.]

As the announcer said that, three openings slid open around the stadium that he was standing in. From each of them a mechanical sound could be heard; appearing before him was a single monster larger than he was. It was a creature with the face and body of a lion albeit with three horns, but with at least three rows of sharp teeth like a shark, its tail resembled that of a scorpion and wings that look almost like bat wings.

[Just look at his opponents the legendary beast, the vicious manticore!]

Following his command, a wide barrier was erected generated around the ring making sure that none of the combatants could leave the arena.

[Now! Battle Start!]

After saying that the inside of the scenery changed into a different environment around him to a wide green area. As if it followed the announcer's signal to start, the manticore charged at Kensei at high-speeds using all four of its limbs. Following its movements, Kensei swiftly dodged its charge at him by moving on to the left. But once he did that, the manticore reacted by directing its scorpion tail at him almost like a whip. Since his feet still hadn't touched the ground there was no way for him to move out of the way, Kensei soon crossed his arms and blocked its tail whip. He could feel the pain from the impact from its tail being transmitted all over his body but he bared with the pain by clenching his teeth tightly.

Kensei pressed his foot against the ground in an attempt to stop himself. Once he finally stopped himself from moving, he looked forward noticing that the manticore had vanished. Staring down at the ground, Kensei took notice of the larger shadow that almost enveloped him. Directing his head upwards, Kensei pressed his foot against the ground stepping away from his former position. A great amount of force was generated from it landing on the ground something that he could feel from where he was. The manticore launched its stinger at him, unsheathing his sword Kensei blocked the point of its stinger using the flat of his blade and altered the path of its stinger so that dug deeply into the ground.

The manticore made several attempts to pull out its stinger. Seeing that it was incapable of even moving anymore, Kensei pressed his foot against the ground and charged forward at the manticore.

"Oooooh!"

It let out a painful scream as Kensei hit it in both its eyes using the bottom of his feet, temporarily blinding it for at least a couple of seconds. Feeling that its scorpion tail was freed from the arena, it attempted to swing its tail around frantically attempting to hit Kensei. Though with every single one of its attempt either dodged or deflected via with his sword, but as he did that it whipped its tail back around aiming its stinger at the back of his neck. It appeared as if Kensei's sword wouldn't be able to make it in time to block it or dodge it.

The next move that he made shocked those who were in the stands. Without hesitation, Kensei held his sword using the blade and blocking its stinger using the bottom of its grip. As his hands were gripped on his blade, blood started to seep from the cuts on both his hand. Gritting his teeth a bit from the pain, Kensei soon fixed his stance with his sword and gripped the hilt of his sword and slashed upwards. Then―

"Raaaawwr!"

Kensei immediately cut off the base of its stinger sending it into the air, streams of purplish blood shot out from the wound. It was unable to recover from the loss of this body part. Seeing the opportunity, Kensei jumped into the air and stabbed the sharp part of its stinger into the head of the manticore killing it instantly not only due to the wound but also due to the poison sent directly into its body. The manticore soon stopped resisting and just died.

After witnessing this ten-years-old killing this manticore, the arena remained silent for a second before they erupted in a roar of cheers.

[Incredible! Kensei Amagiri our house favorite has pulled out another victory against his opponent! I don't think that those cheers are enough…cheer louder!]

From the request by the arbiter, the crowd started to cheer louder for him. Though there were some of the fighters like him who enjoyed the cheers that came from the crowd. Kensei, on the other hand, was different from them, he didn't fight for the thrill of it; he only fought for the sake of surviving on this hell.

* * *

After his fight was over the other one started soon after, currently, inside of a room Kensei was being watched over by a group of gun-wielding men clad in white full-body armor with black mixed in it. These were the Gehenna Guard, highly skilled individuals in charge of making sure that the fights remained in line and would mercifully kill anyone who attempted to rebel.

They had already taken away the weapons and armor that Kensei used during his match against the manticore. Normally, he would've already been on his way out of the arena after having his weapons taken away from him. From where he stood, Kensei could hear someone entering the room based on the footsteps that he heard.

Stepping into the room was a young man in his late twenties with dark-colored hair and brown eyes, based on appearance alone one could tell that he was of Japanese descent. This was the organizer of the Gehenna Tournament―Taro Aoyama. Kensei quietly narrowed his eyes at him with a great deal of annoyance being given off.

"Now now, Kensei no need to give me that look. I just came to give you your pay for the match and to inform you of the schedule of your next few matches."

"Why would you even bother telling me that? Normally you would send a letter to my house."

"Shut it brat!"

One of the guards took the butt of their gun and smack it on the side of Kensei's face, he could feel the force of the attack as it caused a bruise to form on his face. Seeing this occur causing Taro to sigh of disappointment.

"Come on guys don't rough up the kid."

"Yes, sir."

Despite them agreeing with his request, Kensei continued to glare at the dark-haired spectacled young man with a great deal of hatred in his eyes.

"Still with that look on your face. I wouldn't expect anything less from someone of the Amagiri Clan, you know your mother was like that until the end. Your father was so intent on selling you for the money we offered. A surviving member of the formerly well-known Amagiri Clan, the crowd who came to see today's match was a lot bigger than usual."

Hearing that last comment about his mother caused the hatred to flare in his eyes, Kensei had been on this island for almost two years now and several people for his match continued to increase. Despite the calm and kind tone that came from Taro's mouth, Kensei knew that all that he cared about was the money made using the tournament.

"…."

He didn't say a single word and just continued to glare at Taro who just shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't give me that look, I'm just fully embracing my true nature as a human and that's our greed…the same as devils. But, the only difference between us and devils is that our lives are limited so there are little and limited times for us to truly enjoy life. Plus there is research in your brat's special abilities and sacred gears that are being sold to a different organization interested in you little freaks. There is also even this weirdo from the church who is interested in anyone who can wield some type of sword. So don't hate me for being human."

 _"You're barely even human, to begin with."_

Kensei thought harshly about the man before him. Taro explained the schedule of his next few matches today, after that the guards started to take him outside of the arena.

"By the way, why don't you use your families' techniques? I know that your mother taught them before she died."

"I refuse to use my families' ancient techniques for you peons."

Kensei commented coldly as he turned his back on Taro.

Letting out a slight chuckle before glancing towards the ten-years-old with harsh eyes, he directed his hand that had a unique magic ring on his finger.

"Chains of Gehenna Bind…Kensei Amagiri."

The magic ring on his finger started to shine with a pale light, in response to this the bracelet around his wrist started to shine with the same light. From where it was placed on his wrist ominous-looking magic symbols started to creep around his entire body. Kensei's eyes widened in shock as his body gave up on him and the pain was sent throughout his entire body causing him to fall on his knees.

"…."

Though Kensei was used to this level of pain, it was still an excruciating thing to experience and he couldn't move a single muscle. He could see the luxurious shoes belonging to Taro walking near him, then before he knew it. This was their means of controlling them through the use of the ring on his finger that him alone could use and that is connected to all the bracelet worn by the children of this island.

STEP!

Taro stomped on Kensei's head forcing him deeper into the street before losing the calm look on his face as he glared down coldly at him.

"Don't be cruel Kensei, I don't think that this is a productive way to act. Aren't we all getting benefits from this little operation of mine?" Taro sneered at him, as he twisted his foot on his head sending pain around Kensei's body. Kensei then looked after noticing a yellow envelope being thrown on the ground next to him. "Chains of Gehenna: Release."

Kensei could finally move again as he let out a breath of relief, at the same time Taro removed his foot from off of his head.

"Now, I was a meeting to attend with a couple of friends. Just remember this Kensei…the lives of you brats whether you're fully human or whatever freaky species existing in this godforsaken world…all of you belong to me."

Saying those final words after fixing his suit, Taro left the room leaving the guards to lead Kensei back to the area belonging to the children there.

* * *

Built-in another secluded part of the island further away from the city was a village that contained several small houses where the children lived. Though the houses didn't look like much, at the very least it kept them protected from harsh conditions. Almost a hundred children were living in this single area, but for most times the numbers would diminish from those who never survived the matches in the Gehenna Tournament.

Kensei walked down the dirt road leading towards where he lived and watched as some of the kids who lived there stood outside training themselves further so that they could survive. Since there were no schools on this island a good number of the children had to be taught by the oldest kids. Due to the conditions, they had to develop and mature quicker than they should.

Soon enough, Kensei stopped in front of one of the small houses and walked in front of the front door; used a key on hand to open his door. Walking inside he noticed the depressing settings and _furniture_ that was called the "living room".

"Hey, Claire. I'm…."

"Welcome back, Nii-chan!"

Wrapping their own around his waist cheerfully was a nine-year-old girl with grey-colored hair with the same colored eyes; she was noticeably adorable while having a graceful face. Seeing the cheerful look that she sent towards him caused a small smile to form on his face.

"Hey, Claire."

Kensei greeted as he patted Claire's head, feeling his hand on her head caused a giggle to escape her mouth. This was his Claire a young girl that Kensei met almost two weeks after being brought onto Hagun Island. He didn't know how long she had been on this island, but when he found her Claire was shivering under a tree wearing clothes that didn't seem like any worn by anyone else there.

Seeing the injuries on his body, caused a gasp to leave from her mouth.

"Nii-chan how did you get those injuries?"

Claire questioned as she looked at his face.

She knew from experience that most of the injuries that Kensei got from the monsters he battled at the beginning were injuries ranging from cut and slashes. Though as time passed the injuries he would receive diminish unless the creature was more powerful than intended.

"Don't worry your pretty little head, this is nothing."

"I'm going to go get the kit."

His attempt to lessen her worry went unheard as she left the room at a fast pace normally impossible for someone her age. Seeing that she left, Kensei let out a sigh and took a seat on the couch in the living room waiting for her to come back. Just as that thought crossed his mind, Claire walked back into the room carrying the first-aid kit in her hand. Opening it, she began the minor first-aid for the injury on his head.

"So did Alice ever come back from her match?"

"No, Alice-nee never came back."

Claire answered. This Alice was someone else who lived with them in this house, and just like Kensei, she competed in matches like him. They thought that it would be better for Claire to work on growing food with the others, while the two of them fought to earn more money. Though there was a difference between Alice and Kensei….

Unlock! Open!

Just as Claire was finishing bandaging his injuries, the door opened revealing a blonde-haired girl the same age as Kensei or even possibly a year older with bright yellow yet at the same time looked blank and almost uninspired. Her body was a bit weaker compared to Kensei and wore light clothes that didn't look to do much with keeping her warm showing the slightest hint of a growing chest, but the first thing that they took notice of was the fact was she was covered in blood. Her name was Alice Evangelista.

"A-Alice what happened?!"

"Huh?" Alice questioned before taking note of the blood that stained her clothes and finally thought that it was strange that she was getting weird looks from the others living around here. "Oh, this is from the monsters that I fought."

"Monsters as in how many?"

Hearing Kensei's question, Alice thought about the answer before remembering the number.

"About ten maybe thirteen." She answered him causing him, but Alice then ran her fingers through her long hair almost as if she looked bored after remembering the fight. "They thought that increasing the number of monsters would make things interesting. Since you know…I can make demonic beasts."

Alice held her hands out as the shadow under her feet started to extend outwards and twitch almost as if it were alive. Soon enough different parts of creatures started to extend out from the shadow before Alice caused them to settle down and vanish. It always sent an unsettling feeling down their backs seeing this happen from time to time.

This was her sacred gear, Annihilation Maker a High-Tier Longinus that allow her to create several demonic beasts based on the imagination of the user; it also has world-class powers with the potential to destroy the world if used in the wrong hands.

"If they are going to send me up against monsters, they could have at least send more with far more interesting ones. My imagination wasn't even stirred a bit."

Alice lazily replied.

Since her sacred gear was mainly based on her imagination, if she wasn't inspired by anything then they won't be as strong as they're supposed to be. Though they could still do some damage depending on what they're up against.

"Alice-nee go take a bath, while I get dinner ready."

"Va bene."

Alice said an Italian word that meant "Okay" since at least Kensei needed time to begin to understand, while Claire could easily understand her without help. As they stood there, they could hear water running in their single bathroom. Seeing that she followed her advice, Claire went towards their kitchen.

"Okay, I'll get dinner ready. You can't fight on an empty stomach, right?"

Kensei smiled at her happy expression, as she walked into the kitchen with a pot already sitting on the stove. Since this place wasn't was furbished as the locations in the city, they had to cook by starting a fire on their own. This wasn't a problem for Claire. Snapping her finger towards the stove, a fire was lit under the pot and its contents started to cook. Since neither Kensei or Alice could cook properly, they normally left it to her. Walking outside of the bathroom wearing a new change of clothes was Alice who continued to dry her hair using a towel placed on her head.

"You know Alice you should wear some more clothes so you won't get sick again."

"But, I don't want to. You know I hate wearing heavy clothes not that they allow us to have anything besides these anyway."

Alice complained as she took a seat next to him waiting for Claire to finish cooking before leaning her head on his shoulder. Taking a glance towards her, Kensei noticed a far more depressing look on her face different from the usual one she would wear.

"What's wrong?"

"On the way here, I noticed that Maki, Jude, and Yuu wasn't around. I know that their matches were already scheduled before yours so they should be here, but they aren't here."

"…."

Kensei didn't say a single word, knowing what that could have meant.

"Then, they were probably taken elsewhere off the island."

"To be experimented on by someone? To be given an unfair deal to act as just another [Piece] for one a relative of one of those old devils? Or did they―?"

Alice didn't finish her sentence and just wrapped her arms around Kensei's arm. From just this alone Kensei could already tell that she was afraid not just for herself, but also for Claire and Kensei who was her only family.

"I was abandoned by my parents and shunned by my old friends due to my sacred gear, then brought here to fight for the entertainment of others. To make a small sum of money that barely provides use the basic needs, while those guys who keep us here takes the rest. Then to be afraid of being taken away, then either turned in an experiment or slave. I don't think that I can bear being away from either you or Claire."

Seeing that she was worried about being away from them, Kensei placed his arm comfortably around her shoulder and brought her into a hug. Alice stared at him with slightly widened eyes as she didn't except for him to hug her back, he also placed his forehead on hers.

"Don't worry, I'll protect all of us. That's a promise."

He said with a bit of confidence laced in his words without a hint of hesitation.

Hearing the tone of his voice and the brave smirk on his face, Alice stared at him with her face turning a bit pink.

"Idiota."

Again Alice spoke an Italian word as she glanced away from him.

It didn't take Kensei much knowledge to tell that she called him an idiot, the two of them then sensed that someone was watching the two of them. They turned towards the source and noticed Claire staring at the two of them with her cheeks puffed into a pout, along with an adorable glare.

"Alice-nee, I told you that you couldn't have Nii-chan!"

"Hmmm, but my imagination always stir whenever I look at his cute face. He's one of the only people where who always fight so courageously without fear. I can't afford to have someone else take him away from me."

"Muu, but Nii-chan promised he'd marry me!"

Her sudden response caused them both to stare at the young grey-haired girl with a dumbfounded look on their face.

"Wait, when did I say that?"

Kensei was confused about what just came from Claire's mouth since he never remembered making a promise like that before.

"It was when we first met, you held your hand out and said [You don't have to worry anymore because I will always be with you forever]."

Now that Kensei thought about it, saying that to a girl her age would sound like a marriage proposal. It, however, didn't deter Alice who soon wrapped her arms around his neck bringing him into a hug with a hint of a teasing look directed at Claire.

"Then why that means I'll just have to take him away from you."

Hearing that from Claire was the last straw, a grayish almost silver aura started to cover her body as she continued to glare with an adorable look at Alice. This was a different kind of power beyond anything that neither Kensei or Alice could utilize―no it was something she was born to wield. Kensei knew that if she were the utilize it there would be nothing that even he could do to stop her without getting physical.

"C-Come on, don't you think that the food will get cold," Kensei said a with a bit of a nervous tone, as he stood between his adoptive sister and Alice. "Why don't we all just eat together?"

Regaining her composure, Claire calmed down and went over to the pot to place the food on the plates they use to eat on. Once they were finished, they sat around the small table that with a single utensil in their hands. It wasn't the best meal, but it was the best Claire could do with the ingredients that they had and yet it still tasted good all the same.

"Okay, let's say grace."

"Wait, Alice, I don't think that―"

"Oh, Lord. Bless this food and the one who…."

"Auu."

Hearing that unfinished prayer causing a sharp pain to go through Claire's head causing her to place both her hands on her head. Seeing the pained look on her face, Alice stared at her with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry, Claire. I forgot."

"Alice-nee do you hate me or something?"

Claire questioned with tears forming at the corner of her eyes, seeing her beginning to cry Alice waved her hands forward in front of her.

"Of course I don't hate you, Claire."

"Okay, let's eat without giving Claire a praying induced headache."

"Va bene."

"Okay."

They agreed to eat lunch and they began to quietly eat, enjoying the food prepared by their young cook. Though it wasn't much they still enjoyed it. As they continued to eat, Claire started to take silent glances at Kensei who bit down on the bread in his hand. Feeling her eyes on him, he glanced towards her with a wondering look.

"What's wrong?"

"I was just thinking about…why don't you ever use your families' techniques? If you continued wouldn't that mean you're hindering yourself, then maybe you won't get so many injuries."

He stopped eating after hearing Claire ask that question, even though Alice continued eating the food she listened to their conversation.

"I don't want to use my families' techniques in these kinds of fight. Since our ancestor, all of our martial arts and swordplay had been polished for centuries to protect people. Most of those techniques were taught to me by my mother...so I refuse to use them in a tournament like this."

"But, you said that you would protect us. Then wouldn't that give you a reason to use them?"

Claire questioned him, it was something that caused Kensei to be lost in thought as he just continued to stare away from her. Since he was a child, Kensei was always told that their clan has sworn to protect the innocent from evil spirits and demons. His mother never answered the one question that he always wondered. Where their other relatives? And why weren't they with them? Every time Kensei would ask she would remain silent.

"Claire, I―"

BEEP BEEP

A signal came from the bracelet on his wrist. Three of them knew that this was a signal that his match was about to start in a couple of minutes. Kensei sighed as he stood up from his seat placing his spoon next to his plate and glanced towards the two of them.

"I'll be right back in a while guys."

"Nii-chan…."

Claire said to him with a hint of worry in her voice but was stopped as Kensei petted her head and sent her a kind smile.

"Don't worry about it, I'll always come back for you."

"Ahem."

Alice let out a fake cough causing Kensei to laugh somewhat nervously.

"Hahaha, of course, you to Alice."

The blonde nodded in agreement to what he said accepting his answer. Seeing that they were both alright, Kensei left the house locking the door behind him and started to head towards the arena for his next match. As he continued to walk down in the direction, he began to clench his fist tightly as what Claire said continued to go through his head.

 _"Would it be alright for me to use our families' techniques in a place like this? Would that be alright, mom?"_

Kensei wondered to himself with a conflicted look on his face.

* * *

Inside of what seemed like a control room, Taro stood inside behind several individuals working on different controls. What showed on the large monitor in front of them were different cages with an assortment of different monsters held inside of them. He stared at them wondering which one would he send out to fight against Kensei.

"That kid has been here for four months yet he still hadn't used any of his families' techniques in any of his matches. I promised my audience a match with the Last Amagiri and they're starting to have doubts about him being one." Taro continued to complain about his situation with an annoyed look before a cruel idea came to mind. "Well, I tried being hospitable. Send in five demons and a throw in a Cerberus."

"But, Taro-sama isn't that a bit too far."

"Sending in those four would be―"

"Horrible? Harsh? Inhumane?" Taro sneered as he glared at them. "Do you think that you're being kind to the little brat? For almost three years we've been sending children and young teens gathering orphaned children some with special powers, then sending them up against demonic beasts and monsters. Are you having a change of heart after all this time?"

Seeing the cold almost heartless look sent them the workers couldn't refute what he was saying in the slightest. Each of them only turned towards the monitor and smiled almost sadistically.

"You know when I first heard about the supernatural from my grandfather, I thought he finally went senile. Not that I cared, either way, the only thing that I ever cared about was money. It was until I was in my third year of high school when I saw one of my young junior students fighting a demon using a sacred gear. Since that day, I started to research about them until I found a leaflet that I could use to summon a devil. It was then I finally got my questions answered and I fell into despair." Taro spoke out loud in a bit of a depressed tone. "I realized that no matter the hard work or time I spent working. The money that I would have made in a single lifetime pales compared to what a devil can make as long as I continued to do things the normal way. It was then that I made up my mind to embrace my greed just like a devil and gambled everything for the sake of building all this on this island. My paradise is those brat's hell."

* * *

 **A/N: There goes the first chapter of my new DxD Story! I have been thinking about doing a story like this for a while. For those wondering whether or not Kensei has a Sacred Gear** **…he does not, but he will learn different abilities soon.** **It appears as if this OC has been caught in the middle of a dangerous tournament located on an undiscovered island along with his two friends. So, until next time.**


	2. The Amagiri Swordsmanship

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Gabriel790: Thanks.**

 **Awayuki: Thank. I'm happy to hear that you like my stories along with my DxD Fanon page. Sure, what did you want to know?**

 **Ran: Thanks.**

 **Hellspam: I will make that it's enjoyable to read. I think that you read it wrong, it was Alice. You'll just have to wait and see.**

 **Guest: It does sound interesting.**

 **Niku-Shima: You can't call him a Gary Stu character. Especially since it was said that even Tsubasa fought against monsters and evil spirits when she was younger and barely trained. Azazel said that the Annihilation Maker can create demonic beasts when it was first introduced…it's even called the Demonic Beast Creation, then after it was reintroduced it was changed to monsters. So does it matter what they're since a demonic beast is just another name for monsters?**

 **Guest 2: Thanks. You'll just have to wait and see which Youkai it is.**

* * *

 **The Amagiri Swordsmanship**

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

Inside of one of the dojos belonging to the Amagiri Clan located in another part of Japan; two years beforehand one of the only people there was Kensei who was formally dressed in a white martial artist's uniform. Standing before him was a slender young woman in her late twenties with light-purple hair and matching colored eyes. In her hand was a wooden sword held expertly in her hand.

Her names Sakura Amagiri.

Kensei could see that there wasn't a single opening or mistake in her sword stance. Held firmly in both his hand was a wooden sword, he stepped forward and swung his sword a bit sluggishly at his practice partner, but each attack was fluidly blocked and deflected by her without a hint that Sakura was even trying to react to his attacks.

As he launched his last strike, Sakura not only anticipated and deflected the strike, but she also twisted her body allowing him to stumble past her. Stumbling forward a bit, Kensei regained his posture and turned to face Sakura who maintained her stance. He examined the place where her feet were planted and only to narrow them as he realized that she hadn't moved from that spot.

It was just like the other matches that they have had until this point. Sakura looked towards him with a bit of a joking look on her face. Wanting to win this match against her this time around, he positioned his wooden sword in his hand as it began to glow with a faint white light.

"Amagiri-ryū: Zan―"

Seeing him preparing one of their ki techniques, Sakura changed her tranquil eyes to one being filled with the intent to kill causing him to freeze up for a second.

Keeping his sights on Sakura, she vanished from sight despite having his eyes on her. Before he even could react, Sakura appeared before him with her wooden sword being swung upwards knocking his sword in the air before his attack was completed in a single swift motion. She then directed the sword's blunt edge downwards and slashed downwards at Kensei's neck with great force.

A single brandish from Sakura's sword generated a burst of wind that spread around the entirety of their dojo causing the air to vibrate. Once everything settled, it appeared that her sword didn't even touch his neck. Kensei let out a cold sweat and he fell on his butt letting out a sigh of relief.

"Jeez! Could you not try leaking out that much killing intent?!"

"What?" Sakura questioned as she placed a hand on her hip while spinning her sword around with one hand. "You were the one who came at me with one of our clan's techniques. As a defenseless young lady and kenjustu practitioner, it's only natural that I defend myself."

"Defenseless? I doubt that anyone who can generate a shock wave by just brandishing a sword can't be considered defenseless…Okaa-san."

Kensei replied as he looked away with a slight pout.

Seeing the adorable look on his face causing Sakura to stare at him with a smile on her face before she reached inside her martial arts clothing and pulled out a pair of glasses. Indeed the woman in front of him was, in fact, his mother. She was one of the most skilled in their family just being below their former clan leader in terms of skill.

"Kensei, I'm just teaching you our families' swordplay."

"By what scaring me to death?!"

"Kensei do you know of the principles of our techniques?"

His mother questioned as she took a seat in front of him in a traditional style. Kensei who joined her and made a wondering look on his face.

"Uh, let me see. I know it's based off of the principles of ki for the propose of slaying demons and also destroying evil…ouch!"

In the middle of his answer, Sakura bopped him on the head with an insanely swift karate chop, while she shook her head in disagreement. As he reeled from the sudden attack, Kensei placed both hands on his head as he could already feel a bump beginning to form on his head.

"I'm not talking about our ki-based energy attacks silly," Sakura said almost cheerfully as she retracted her hands and placed both of them on her lap. "What I'm referring to is our swordplay, since you plan on making that your primary fighting style. Since ancient times our families' swordplay became famous for its swift movements attacks, precise cuts, and finding one's weaknesses. Though our families' martial arts aren't just limited to swords some members specialize in other kinds weaponry."

Kensei took in everything that his mother said about their families swordplay, weaponry, and ancient techniques. It would be just around a year since he started his training. Though he couldn't help and wonder why he hadn't seen any of their relatives. Seeing the look on his face, Sakura stared at him with a slight smirk on her face and ruffled his hair with her hand.

"Oh, come on. What's with that look?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about something," Kensei answered with a bit of a sigh being released from his mouth. "By the way could you stop doing that, it's embarrassing?"

"Hahaha, of course. That is a mother's job!" Sakura joked as stared at him with a hint of a smirk on her face. "Do you know what your name means?"

This sudden question caused him to stare at her with a confused look forming on his face.

"Sword Saint, why?"

"[Kensei] is a title given to those with truly exceptional skills in Kenjustu and Martial Arts. So when I say that I have faith that you would grow to into a person who could accomplish great things, I meant it. If you master our clan's principles, then you will realize the deeper meaning of our techniques."

Saying those final words to him, Sakura reached forward and wrapped her arms comfortably around him bringing Kensei into a hug. This caused a deep shade of red to form on his cheeks from the great deal of embarrassment that he felt at that point, he then got out of her grasp and stood up on his feet.

"Kaa-san don't just do that out of nowhere!"

"Kensei, I want you to become someone who can surpass me and even our ancestor, then I'll know that you can handle anything anyone throws at you. …Everything may end up being left to you one day and…."

Sakura mumbled to herself almost sadly, Kensei wondered what she meant by those final words that came out of her mouth, but he couldn't remember all of them at the moment.

* * *

As that memory ended, Kensei stood in front of a mirror inside the waiting room already dressed in the clothes that he wore for combat during the tournament. His hands were clenched on the rim of the sink as he continued to wonder about his current situation.

"Everything did end up being left to me. Not only our clan's pride, martial arts, and Swordplay." Kensei mumbled to himself as he turned on the water, then cup his hand scooping up the water and splashing it on his face. "Have I been holding myself back by not using my clan's fighting style? I know that I was fighting in a way different from my clan. They already have us here against our will, I refuse to indulge them anymore by using our fighting style."

Kensei was adamant about not using his families' techniques in front of this kind of crowd, but then the words of worry that came from Claire. But, you said that you would protect us. Then, wouldn't that give you a reason to use them? Those words echoed in his head, it was true that both she and Alice were the most important things to him right now, but him wanting to protect his clan's pride was also added into the mix.

Being called the "Last Amagiri" may have been just a nonsense title that they granted him, but to him, it represented that he was the final member to represent his clan.

"If I―"

"Hey, it's time brat."

Kensei was informed by one of the Gehenna Guards that his match was close to starting. Letting out a slight sigh, he picked up the sheathed sword the was placed near the sink and placed it on his side.

"Let's get this over with."

As that thought came to mind, Kensei's eyes changed from his usual calm look to one that of someone determined not to either lose or die.

Kensei started to walk towards the door and began to walk down the hallway leading to the ring. Once he did the crowd started to cheer after seeing him stepping out into the light.

[Once again, Kensei Amagiri has stepped onto the arena once again. Wonder what kind of performance he will give this time?]

Just like before the announcer called out.

Once Kensei's feet touched the arena floor, everything suddenly turned silent almost as if there was a terrible sense of foreboding in the air around him. This was the first time that a thing like this had ever happened since he stepped into the ring.

"What's going on?"

Kensei mumbled to himself as he examined the crowd, he noticed that the people in the stands wore an interesting look on their face. Their gazes were caught solely on him as if they were all waiting for something to happen.

[Kensei Amagiri, the final member of the Amagiri Clan since joining Gehenna four months ago our dear swordsmen hasn't displayed a single bit of his true strength to any of us. Even after we've all been so hospitable to him. So, why don't we give him some motivation?]

The announcer called out in a somewhat excited tone, but the venom laced in his words could be felt by those in the arena. Kensei wondered what he meant by that, but his question was answered as soon as the scenery around him changed. Due to the bright light, he had to cover his eyes using his hand.

Opening his eyes what Kensei saw was an area filled with trees, the skies above him was also colored purple similar to that of the underworld based on what he had heard. He could also feel that this was just another thing from the techniques given to Taro from the old-devils who sponsored him and his tournament. This was due to their interest in the children on the island who possess special abilities.

"What're they―?"

Just as Kensei was standing there he sensed something coming in his direction, reacting quickly to this he jumped out of the way. What he avoided was a large black paw that tore apart the tree that was next to him with its threatening claws and cutting off segments of his clothing. Rolling on the ground, Kensei soon drew his sword to prepare to attack; he stared at the large ten-meter tall three-headed hound that gave off a dense presence.

ROOOOOOOOOOOAR!

It let out a deafening roar that shook the very ground where Kensei stood, each of its heads stared at him as it bared its dangerous fangs. He stared at the hound knowing full well that it was the Guard Dog from Hell from the books that he read within his families' library.

[Aaaaaand it's the guard dog from the depths of hell itself, but that's not all.]

Just the announcer said in an excited tone.

Coming out from the shadows around him were five demonic humanoids with black dense skin and with the build of an adult male. Each of the creatures before him gave off a combined presence that could be felt on his skin so much so he let out cold sweat. Wiping out the sweat that formed on his face Kensei started to assess the situation.

"A Cerberus with power possibly at a mid-class devil's level and five D-class Demons." Kensei though as he swiped his sword towards the left for a practice swing. "This match is going to be a difficult one."

Though just before the match started there was another announcement from their arbiter.

You since we started this little tournament the others on this island felt left out. So to rectify that my employer decided to send out this little surprise to everyone's homes and outside.

Inside the control room, the number of operators worked on the controls on their consoles. Once their operation was finished being sent all over Hagun Island were several holographic screens that showed the match between Kensei the Cerberus and the five demons.

* * *

In the house that belonged to Kensei, Claire and Alice; a holographic screen appeared before the two of them inside the living room where the two of them sat. Claire stared at Kensei who was surrounded by the Cerberus and five demons with a slight look of worry. Alice stared at it with a questioning look on her face.

"What're they trying to do…Alice-nee?"

She stared at Alice with a look of concern, as the older blonde continued to just sit there staring at the screen. The only realization that she could come to was that they were trying to get Kensei into using his Amagiri Techniques for the fight, while also granting them the unwanted chance to see their friends and fellow captives fight for their lives.

"Don't worry, this is Kensei we're talking about. He'll be alright?"

Alice replied patting Claire comfortably on her head, the young girl in question smiled at her with her usual cheerful smirk. Though unbeknownst to her, Alice stared at the projection with a look of wonder on her face; knowing that there was a possibility that he might not fight with his actual strength.

* * *

In the middle of the match between Kensei and demon (a), (b), (c), (d), and (e); this is how he discerned them based on their looks. He continued to rush forward while avoiding each of their combined attack from the group of five demons. Due to his fights with the monster who possesses great speed, he became capable of keeping track with their movements.

Kensei noticed their attacks were in sync with one another. Though, he at least got a handle on the rhythm of their attacks allowing him to better react to them. Demon (c) launched their claws at him with, Kensei blocking them using his sword; its clash caused sparks to fly in the air during their assault on one another.

It continued to launch attack after attack at Kensei that he continued to block with his sword. Seeing this chance demon (e) charged at him with its claw directed at him. Sensing its attack, Kensei moved his head out but it scratched the side of his cheek, due to the late reaction time.

Fixing his sword's position, Kensei slashed at demon (e) cutting its body causing it to let out a grunt of pain as blackish blood came from its body. Sensing the demons (c) and (b) coming toward him, he dodged their attempt in an attack by jumping to the left causing the two of them to run into one another.

Regaining his balance, Kensei glanced forward seeing demon (a) the largest of them charging at him launching its large fist at him. He narrowly dodged its fist by moving his body to the left as he felt the pressure generated from its fist. It continued its assault on him launching its fists in a barrage of attacks as Kensei continued to move backward away from it.

After getting away from it, Kensei launched his knee hitting its chin stunning it just long enough for him to get from under the demon and stood in front of it. Before Kensei could deal a decisive blow on the one in front of him, demon (d) came behind him aiming its foot in the direction of Kensei's side. As its foot made contact with his side, Kensei could pretty much feel the bones in his body fracturing due to the force that it put in its attack.

Being launched in the direction of its kick, a trail of blood escaped from the side of his mouth. Despite the pain he felt, Kensei recovered just in time to brace himself for the impact into the tree. "Gah!" He grunted as Kensei placed his hand gently on his side. This was understandable since even though he was more physically inclined than most children his age.

His fighting style was primarily towards speed and sword technique so there was so much physical damage that Kensei could handle. There wasn't enough time to deal with the pain before he felt intense heat in the air, without him having to look he jumped out of the way dodging a sudden fireball attack launched by the Cerberus.

At first, he intended to avoid the Cerberus for now and deal with the demons beforehand, since the hound could prove far more difficult than them. It continued the attack by launching a barrage of fireballs in his direction, even with the fracture of his ribs he could still avoid the attacks being launched at him by the hound by dodging them.

Doing this proved difficult for him with the fracture in his rib. Each of the Cerberus' head looked down at him with red eyes. Each of its heads continued to launch fireball after fireball in his direction. Due to their size and heat, it was too much for him to just cut through without using with a normal slash.

"I can't deal with all of them in a normal conformation…especially since none of them will give me any room to even breathe! I have to..."

Due to him being too wrapped up in his thoughts of how to win, he glanced forward noticing demon (a) in front of him who surpassed his speed. Before he could react to the sudden sneak attack, the Cerberus fired off another attack at him. Taking notice of the attack, Kensei stopped himself by pressing his feet onto the ground and jumped back with the strength in his legs. After it made contact with the ground before him, the fireball exploded creating a discharge of fire and rock.

The force of the impact sent him flying back a distance into the ground, along with sending the sword from out of his hand causing it to be stuck into the ground. His legs began to shake as he continued to stand back up to his feet, but before he could do anything else there was a shadow that belonged to one of the demons.

Kensei was lifted from off the ground by demon (a) by his head with its large hand covering most his head. Without a shred of remorse, the demon started to squeeze his head.

"Gaaaaah!" He let out a howl of pain as he could feel the pressure on his head, which continued.

Seeing this caused the spectators in the stands to stare in wonder of what could happen next, while they stared in amusement. This was the Last Amagiri? It was an amusing experience to witness firsthand. This was what made this experience so much enjoyable for a good number of them, the thrill the odds, the excitement from the matches, and the adrenaline rush that they felt.

* * *

Watching as this happened with a horrified look on their faces were both Alice and Claire. The two of them covered mouths covered as all they could do was watch as Kensei had his head squeezed by this demon. It was all they could do since the arena was closed for every one of them except for their paying customers.

Witnessing her dear adoptive brother being beaten by this demon caused tears to stream down her cheeks. Clenching her teeth Claire stormed out of their house.

"Claire where are you going?"

Being worried about her Alice followed after her, walking outside and saw Claire standing in front of her with her feet planted on the ground. Claire then inhaled a lot of air into her lungs before shouting.

"How do plan on protecting anyone when you're losing to a bunch of small fries like those?! Are those the kind of opponents that someone from the proud Amagiri Clan would lose to?! You once told me that an Amagiri always fights honorably no matter the opponent and no matter the kind of bind they were trapped in! You promised me that you would always protect us with all your power. So, fight with your actual strength…baka!"

Claire cried her eyes out as tears were rolling down her cheeks. Those who lived around them could hear her and neither of them could refute her after seeing the look of sadness on her face. Alice who watched her with eyes that showed compassion and worry.

"Kensei you're an idiot for making this girl and I worry like this! I always like that you never lose your confidence whenever you left for a fight or when you came back from one. You always fight harder than anyone...so don't betray our faith!"

Alice called out along with Claire her emotions being displayed by her tone.

* * *

Back in the middle of Kensei's match with the demons and Cerberus, his consciousness started to slip as the pressure on his head started to increase. He thought that he must have lost his mind since he thought he heard both Claire's and Alice's voices calling out to him. Due to his mind starting to slip, he remembered the words from his mother.

Become someone who can surpass me, then I'll know that you can handle anything anyone throws at you. Everything may end up being left to you one day and l can be relieved knowing that they're in your capable hands. Remembering his mother's words for him, Kensei allowed his ki to flow throughout his body and brought out another change within him. Whatever you decide to do…I'll be proud.

Raising his hands towards the demon's hand and tightened his grip, this time the demon winced a bit due to him using his ki to enhance his physical strength a bit. Kensei then positioned his body and broke free from the demon's grasp and landed on the ground his hands tightly clenched as a bluish-white aura covered both his hands.

"Amagiri-ryū," Kensei mumbled, as he pressed his foot firmly on the ground and charged at it with his right fist pulled back. "Funsai Shikon."

(Translation: Amagiri-Style: Crushing Fang)

Thrusting his fist forward with a purifying aura being released from his hand and sent it directly inside its body. It made a loud noise across the area. There was a silence before the demon before demon (a) coughed up blood from its mouth and fell to its knees. It felt nothing but pain coursing throughout its body almost as if it were on fire.

"I…really am…an idiot." Kensei stated to himself, as he made his hand into a knife with an aura of ki being clad around it. "I can practically hear Claire and Alice calling me an idiot."

Slashing his hand horizontally taking off demon (a)'s head in the process. Strengthening his resolve, Kensei started to walk towards his fallen sword and picked it up from off the ground. Turning around to face his opponents changing his sword stance to the same one used by the Amagiri Clan when utilizing their swordplay.

"Why don't we try this again?"

Kensei inquired, as he clenched his sword's hilt tightly. His sights were completely locked on the last remaining demons who continued to glare at him. His calm demeanor remained as he prepared his next attack, the first to move was demon (c) on the far left.

It launched its claw forward attempting to slash his face, but Kensei ducked downwards dodging the assault. Just as he was channeling his ki around the blade.

"Amagiri-ryū: Zanmaken."

(Translation: Amagiri-Style: Evil Cutting Sword)

Kensei clenched both hands around the hilt of his sword and slashed it diagonally bisecting it without much resistance. Seeing that their allies were dealt with much easier than before, the leftover demons realized the threat that he posed now and each of them charged at him. Each of them charged back at him with all of their claws. Though no one in the crowd expected for him to get out of there without a scratch. However, what happened next shocked them.

For Kensei, his sword's movements became a lot lighter than they were before as he had slain each of the demons before him with several precise cuts on their bodies. Though there were a few wounds that they were able to get on him before their deaths. During the attack, Kensei noticed that there were some mistakes made.

 _"I got a bit rusty, but I'll get the hang of it."_

Kensei thought to himself as he charged towards the Cerberus at top speed with his sword covered in white light. Finally, the Cerberus launched three fireballs in his direction. Just like before he channeled ki into his sword, then concentrated them increasing sharpness.

"I'm going to tear cut off those three heads." Kensei declared as he charged for it. "Amagiri-ryū―"

And so the black-haired swordsman began his match with the three-headed black hound with his sword in hand; with the doubt in his heart gone. His match with it continued for half an hour. During the entire match, there wasn't a single person who took their eyes off the battlefield.

* * *

"Waaaah! You idiot!"

As soon as he returned home he had his injuries were already tended to by Claire who began to tear into him about what happened during the match. All that Kensei and Alice could do was allow her to get her feeling that welled up in her chest.

"Do you like coming back injured like this?! Do you know how many times I had to stand around here worried about the two of you, then deal with the injuries that you two sustained?! But, then I had to see it for myself on that screen."

Claire continued to speak her mind, while some tears began to flow down her face. It almost surprised that she shouted at him for that long to the point where she had to take a couple calming breaths. Even Alice couldn't even say anything since most of the words were most of what she wanted to say to Kensei.

Seeing that Claire reached a certain point where no words would come out, Kensei held his hand out and pulled her into a hug; her head being placed on his chest. Though his body was still aching from his fight with the Cerberus. Though he felt that this was the least that he could do for her.

"I'm sorry, Claire. I promise that I won't do anything like that again."

Kensei said in a comforting tone while petting her head comfortably in an attempt to calm her down. As his hand left her head, Claire looked up at her. Seeing the look that he was giving her, Claire's face turned a darker shade of red.

"Don't think that I've forgiven you yet."

Claire said as she made an angry pout on her face while looking away from him. Seeing things has finally settled down, Alice glanced towards the two of them with a smile on her face.

"Kensei, so how did it feel using your families' swordplay after all this time?"

"It was nostalgic and natural. I almost forgot how great it felt."

Kensei's answer was more honest and heartfelt than Alice thought that it would be. Alice stared at him with the brightest smile that she could muster up, but soon turned into one of despair.

"Oh, seeing the look of sheer confidence…truly this is the pride of a swordsman from such an ancient family. If only if it wasn't for these people I could have turned this into wonderful work of art."

Alice woefully said to herself in a dramatic tone, which caused both Kensei and Claire to glance at her with a deadpanned look on their face. Alice continued to make a number of odd movements while she continued to hug herself. The two of them knew that Alice was someone who enjoys art and everything about it based on how much she would talk about it. Claire then took a glance towards Kensei's side which he had a bit of trouble leaning in that direction of the fracture.

"Nii-chan I'll have to do the other treatment if the rib fracture is going to heal along with the other injuries."

Saying that to him caused Claire to shuffle in her position as she gripped the lower part of her shirt, the cute embarrassed look on her face caused Kensei to melt a bit. This kind of treatment was something that only Claire could do, due to her heritage and it was something that she was prepared to do. Even though she was comfortable with Alice, she wasn't the same with Kensei.

Taking note of the look of embarrassment on her face, Kensei waved it off.

"Oh, don't make that face. You don't have to perform the treatment, I'll heal up the old-fashioned―"

Step. Step. Step. Kensei could hear Alice walking towards him with her fist pulled back before hitting him on his shoulder with all the strength that she could muster. Then―

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

Kensei knelt on the ground in pain with both Claire and Alice starring him, then Alice crossed her arms and nodded her head in agreement.

"I thought as much, your hurt more serious if you can barely handle a hit from me," Alice said as she saw Kensei who was still on the ground wreathing in pain all. An interesting thought then came to mind. "Oh, well if Claire won't do it, then I guess that we'll just have to ask the Nekomata who lives further away from us for help. You know, the ones who always seem to be interested in Kensei."

Alice made a bit of a mischievous look on her face knowing how Claire will react next after hearing that her brother might get taken away from her. Seeing the scrunched up look on her face, Alice continued.

"Their Senjutsu might be a great help, I did hear that there are some helpful healing techniques that could be more useful. Sounds like your dear Nii-chan might be taken aw―"

"Shut up!" Claire shouted as she stomped her foot on the ground like a child who just had her toy taken away from her. "No one is taking my Nii-chan away from me! I'll give all the treatment that he needs and no one else!"

At this point, Claire's face turned a shade of bright red not from embarrassment, but rage. Kensei laughed nervously as he immediately knew that Alice had just manipulated her. Wanting to get out of this and away from Alice, Claire took Kensei by his hand and dragged him into the single room where the three of them slept. It wasn't much, though the bed was big enough for just the three of them.

Though after she entered the room, the vigor that she felt before diminished.

* * *

"S-So Nii-chan can you…?"

"I got it."

Kensei slowly took off his shirt due to the fracture, before he threw it on the floor and lay down on the single bed inside the small room. Before long Kensei lied down on the bed waiting for Claire who soon lied down next to him wrapping her arms gently around him and placing her head on his chest. As she wrapped her arms around him a silver different kind of aura was wrapped around both of them, which originated from herself that Kensei recognized as demonic power.

From the moment that he met Claire, he was already aware that she was a devil―no it would be more accurate to say that she was a devil/human hybrid. Aside from being the cook and a person who grew food along with the others; whenever either him or Alice would get injured in a fight, Claire would embrace them for the night and their wounds would heal.

Kensei could feel the power and inner potential of his adoptive sister, but he still wouldn't allow her to fight in the tournament. As he looked down at her, Kensei could tell that she was a bit shy about doing this with him. Since meeting Claire, she was slowly getting comfortable with him. Though there wasn't much that he knew about Claire or her past.

"Claire, what exactly do you remember about your parents?"

His out of nowhere question caused her to look up directly at him with a doubting look on her face before looking down with a happy yet sad look on her face.

"I remember almost everything about my parents, but I barely saw much of my Tou-san due to his work. So I stayed with my mother along with her family…not her real one, but they were closed inside a town she loved. She always taught me a lot of things not only about cooking but also about literature and my heritage. Whenever Kaa-san was busy with her jobs, her family would play with me especially Oba-san her closest friend. Then on the day that Tou-san came to visit again, Kaa-san sudden came into the room then had Oba-san take me away from our home and that was the last time that I saw any of them."

Claire spoke sadly as she continued to place her head on his chest, she continued his treatment. He felt the fracture in his ribs slowly healing, but he ignored that and was more concerned about Claire. His only reason for asking her that was due to his curiosity and he soon regretted it.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…."

"No, it's alright. I mean, both you and Alice-nee already talked about your parents so it's only fair that I did too." Claire answered him with a shake of her head, then stared at him with the light returning to her eyes. "Though I sometimes wonder whether or not they―"

"Your parents didn't abandon you."

Kensei in a reassuring tone, while petting her head.

His answer held no hint of deceit in them nor did it sound as if he were trying to console her.

"How would you know that?"

"From what you said, it sounded as if something happened so they had to get you out of there," Kensei said to her with a confident tone. "If you don't believe me, then we'll just have to ask them."

Hearing what he said caused Claire to stare at him with a confused look on her face.

"What're you talking about?"

"I don't exactly plan on us being here our entire life. I don't know how, but I will get us out of here."

Saying those final words to her, Kensei pressed his lip on her forehead. This feeling on her forehead caused Claire to blush deeply and pressed his shoulder embarrassed, but without him noticing her smiling. The two of them continued to embrace one another with Claire continuing his treatment while wearing a smile on her face.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the second chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, it was Kensei's second match for the day against the Cerberus and the five demons. Kensei showed a bit of his families' sword techniques in his match. A bit of Claire's past was revealed.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire.**


	3. Maker of Annihilation

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, before starting the story. Let me answer some reviews:**

 **Hellspam: Thanks, I'm happy that you like Alice's and Kensei's characters.**

 **CrimsonDragonGodEMPEROR: I don't know whether or not I should add them.**

 **Ran: Thanks.**

 **Awayuki: I'm glad that you liked the fight scene.**

 **Gabriel790: Thanks.**

 **Yano: Thanks. Here is the next chapter.**

 **Campione: Thanks.**

 **Guest: I like both your suggestions. The one with Mizore sounds like an idea that will drive Issei insane** **(since he has a habit of having his exceptions crushed whenever it came to female youkai appearing in the canon). And, the one with Akane Hiyama, there is no such thing as being kind of a Yandere.**

 **Guest 2: I already have an idea of who to add into Kensei's harem. Though having a dragon maid is an interesting idea.**

 **King: Here it is.**

 **Guest 3: I don't know whether or not I should add a descendant of Jack the Ripper into his harem.**

* * *

 **Maker of Annihilation**

 **~One Week Later**

"Geez, after all that time, it took me a full week to fully heal even with Claire's treatment and with me even using my ki," Kensei replied as he sat down on a couch that looked different from the one in his home. "It's a good thing those bastards gave us the chance to heal from our battles."

"I think that its a miracle that you could heal in that amount of time. And besides, if those guys didn't give us at least that, then their fans wouldn't be pleased about some of us falling in the middle of a match due to an injury."

Inside of the living room of another house, Kensei was talking with a black-haired foreign young man with darkish red eyes who looked to be the same age as him, he was dressed in similar light clothing as him that was granted to them and he had a collar around his neck. His name was Zane Wayland, the descendant of Wayland the Smith from Norse Legend. Zane is also the sworn friend and an ally to Kensei since their first meeting.

After seeing that more relaxed look that was Kensei's face, Zane let out a small smile and turned in his direction.

"You seem a lot calmer than you were before when you first started to fight in the tournament," he stated as Kensei stared at him with a bit of a confused look. "When we first met you did look to act all calm and collected, but I could tell that you were a bit too tense during your fights since you weren't fighting to the best of your abilities. So, it goes to show that you've practiced all your families techniques to the point where they've been naturally engraved them all your body."

Upon hearing his from Zane, Kensei couldn't help but smile a bit. If there was anyone that he was able to rely on in terms of tactical skills and reading a person, then the first person would be the one standing in front of him.

"You know it sometimes gets annoying when you do that sometimes," Kensei laughed a bit, but he couldn't disagree with him in that regard. "But, you're right, my mom made it her job to engrave all of our families ancient techniques into me and now just our sword skill…I mean every single skill that the Amagiri Clan had developed over the years."

"You do the Last Amagiri title justice. I can't imagine what you're going through, but I guess that I could somewhat relate. When I was at the age of five my grandfather made sure that I was used to the flames and sparks generated when forging a weapon along with using this heavy hammer. I can still remember how numb my hands would get after hitting the surface of an anvil."

"Let me guess you messed up your sword on the first try?"

Kensei said in a bit of a superior tone.

"No…kinda, only slightly," Zane replied after seeing Kensei staring at him with a bit of a skeptical look on his face. "Alright fine, it came out a bit deformed and a bit crooked a couple of times, but I did fix it using whatever magic that I knew at the time."

"Which reminds me, wasn't Wayland the Smith a legendary blacksmith?"

In numerous legends, various blacksmiths forged weapons, equipment, and even several items. And there some of them used a variety of methods during the process of making them that included imbuing them with a variety of different powers to make them more powerful. And Wayland the Smith was one of them.

"Yes, my ancestor forged various kinds of weapons and items that ranged from either holy or demonic," Zane replied as he recalled something that he heard from his grandfather who raised him. "I was told a lot of stories and informed about various accomplishments that Wayland succeeded in as a blacksmith, but that always came back to me no matter what. Nothing that my family made could ever match that masterpiece among demon sword known as the Demonic Emperor Sword, Gram."

After thinking about Gram, Zane felt as if it was an unspoken challenge to make a better weapon than even the strongest demonic sword.

"I want to make something that can either be just as great or even greater than Gram."

Kensei couldn't help, but feel hope for all of them. Despite everything that all of them were going through in the Gehenna Tournament there was still those who desired to make their separate own dream come. And for that to happen, all of them needed to be freed first.

"Though, for me to accomplish that. We all need to get out of here first."

"You just read my mind. So, did you come up with anything about these things."

Kensei was referring to the bracelets and collars that were stuck on their bodies and keeping all of them from resisting their captors. After hearing that from him, Zane let out a bit of a sigh and he stared at Kensei with an almost defeated look.

"I don't know what to tell you, but I'm pretty sure you already know that we can't directly tamper with these things or else we'll end up like the last guy who tried to remove his."

After being reminded of that, Kensei grimaced at the memory. A couple of months ago, there was an older magician skilled in alchemy had attempted to remove his bracelet, but the moment he tried it reacted to the interference, then activated feedback that caused him to die as a result.

"From what I can tell based on my knowledge and that from my "source", it is made using an ancient kind of contract spell utilized by the Old Devils before the Great War started. Its main purpose was to act as insurance to make sure that humans didn't break their pact with them, but as you can tell nowadays it isn't used anymore. These can also track us as long as we remain on the island, but it also keeps us from leaving the bounded field around the island."

"So our only choice is to use the teleportation circles that those bastard fans used to arrive here and leave?"

"That is an option, but those kinds of teleport spells works at a certain time and are always kept under guard by the Gehenna Guards. And obviously, they made sure that we couldn't use our magic to exit the island. I hate to admit it, but that Bastard Taro made sure to cover all his angles before he started this little operation."

"But, there's no such thing as an inescapable prison," Kensei stated with a confident smirk. "There is no way we're staying under these guys control for the rest of our lives. I'm not losing Claire or Alice to no one."

Kensei proceeded to clench his fist tightly while narrowing his eyes. Seeing this caused Zane to smile with a bit of an understanding look.

"I can't say that I can know where you're coming from as I don't have anyone that I have that kind of attachment to. There is only one person on this island that I can call my close friend and that is you."

Zane said with a wide smirk causing Kensei to stare at him with a look of agreement.

"I feel the same way pal. You are my closest ally."

Without saying anything, both of them held their hands out and bumped fists with one another.

"But, I got to ask what is the source of yours," Kensei questioned with a confused look. "Despite all the times that I ever asked you, you would never tell me what this "source" was. I'm starting to think that you are just playing around with me."

"Sorry, but there is a reason why my "source" would like to remain hidden and if those guys found out about it, then they may take me off this island and experiment on me."

Zane said in a bit of a nervous tone.

Based on how long that he has known Zane, Kensei believed that he could trust him no matter what even with his own life if needed.

"Alright, I won't ask anymore."

"Don't worry, I'll tell you when the time comes. But, I don't think that you guys will get along if you two were to meet officially."

Zane started to laugh to himself nervously after thinking about it causing Kensei to stare at him in more of a confused manner.

OPEN!

As both of them talked with one another, the door to Zane's residence was slammed open causing both of them to jump slightly at the noise.

"Nii-chan! Zane!"

It was Claire who ran into Zane's home with an almost tired look on her face showing that she had run all the way there. Seeing how their house and his were far away from one another so it will take long even if someone ran all the way.

"What's wrong Claire?!"

"Alice-nee is about to start fighting! And―"

"Hold up."

Hearing Zane caused them to glance towards him, appearing in the living room was a holographic projection that displayed the image of the arena. After seeing what came into view, both Zane and Kensei widened theirs in shock at what they saw.

"Th-Those bastards."

"You've got to be kidding me."

[What an amazing addition to our wonderful tournament! Going against Alice Evangelista, one of our Gehenna Tournament's highest-ranked contenders is one of our Hagun Island's honorary Gehenna Guards…the Youngest of our Dynamic Duo Mason .]

In the arena were a red-haired hair and green eyes that looked at least three years older than Alice making him thirteen-years-old with a snide look and malicious intent behind his eyes. And unlike many of the other children on the island, neither of them had collars on them. Seeing them standing in front of Alice caused both Kensei and Zane to make a grim look as they knew exactly what kind of people those two were.

"Those bastards are going this far."

"They're using those traitors to fight this time around."

Amongst the group kept on the island to be fighters, some proved their usefulness to Taro, then they would be allowed some freedoms. Some of them would sell out their fellow captors. Do their dirty work in no matter what it entailed. And other heinous acts. After all of that not only would they be allowed to have their collars removed, but they would be granted far better-living conditions inside of the middle of the city built in the middle of the island.

Even Claire knew the kind of situation that Alice was in, but she didn't want to believe it.

"Nii-chan, don't lie to me. Is Alice-nee in trouble?"

"The one advantage that we had when fighting against these monsters we that they acted in more instinct and barely followed any kind of thought," Kensei said as he tightened both his hands in frustration. "We may have lost the small advantage that was granted to us."

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the arena of the Gehenna Tournament changed its scenery into a scene, which looked like a forested area. It was an area that gave only Mason an advantage due to the nature of his ability. Alice was dressed in a basic armor that was light enough for her to walk around with no issue due to her slightly weak physical body. She continued to walk around with an almost too bored look on her face.

"Where did he go?"

Alice questioned as she continued to talk forward aimlessly in the forest where she was. Moments after the match started, Mason hid inside of the forest and away from Alice's vision, as he viewed the matches that Alice had against various other monsters.

 _"As if I would be dumb enough to fight her in a head to head confrontation."_

Mason thought. He knew the abilities of her Annihilation Maker that made it one of the strongest even amongst the Top-Tier Sacred Gears by creating near-endless creatures. Mason knew that fighting her head-on would be stupid, but instead fighting using long-ranged tactics.

"But, attacking her body would be smarter," Mason smirked in a sinister manner. "I did hear that she had a weak body."

He directed his hand towards Alice as she continued to walk forward towards a clearing inside of the forest as staying in the dense forest would be asking to be blindsided. The same moment, that she took a step forward, Mason's hand started to shine with an ominous green glow. As if following an unspoken command, the grass and ground around Alice's feet started to move as if it were alive and the plants started to wrap around her feet.

"Che Cosa?!"

Alice shouted [What] in Italian as she fell forward with whatever trick that Mason used.

She looked forward noticing that there were small spikes made out of wood started to shoot up out of the ground under her with their sharp points close to piercing her face and body. Through, just as it was about the pierce her, Alice's shadow started to expand outwards causing a sudden chill to run down the spine of Mason. Coming out from the shadows were black tentacles that wrapped around Alice's limbs stopping her from falling forward before the spires could touch her.

"That was a close one."

Alice let out a sigh of relief wiping out away some of the sweat that formed on her forehead, then he controlled the shadows that came from out shadow and granted them bladed edged to cut apart the plants that wrapped around her.

"If I remember correctly his Sacred Gear is called [Arbor Field]."

The Arbor Field grants its wielder the ability to create various kinds of plants with various kinds of attributes and even controlling the plant-life around him. If it is mastered enough, then the user is capable of creating various unique kinds of plant life.

"So, being in this forest would be a horrible idea."

Soon enough Alice's shadow expanded again and coming out from it was a black wolf with deep red eyes and large enough for Alice to ride on top of. Alice later jumped on top of its back grabbing onto it so that she wouldn't fall off.

"Let's go! Head towards the clearing that is up ahead"

"Ooooo!"

It let out a howl and proceeded to head towards the center of the forest that had no trees around it, but surrounding it in a circle. That would be the best kind of place for her to escape to.

"As if I'd let you!"

Mason called out as he started motioning his hands towards Alice who was escaping on top of the wolf-like creature. All around her the plants started to move as if they were alive, from the trees the wood of the trees started to break apart and started to be launched towards the escaping Alice and her wolf. Reacting to the attacks to protect its creator, the wolf started to move around dodging all of them using speed and reflexes that could be called god-speed.

Soon enough, the ground under the wolf's feet started to vibrate causing it to respond by jumping into the air and landing on the branch of a tree.

Crack! Crack! Break! Break!

Coming up from under the ground where they stood were numerous thorny vines started waved all around in the air and moved as if they were alive. All of the vines directed themselves in the same direction as Alice who continued to escape on top of her wolf by jumping from branch to branch. A number of the vines chasing after them started aiming at her like whips. Once some of the vines wrapped around the branches that the wolf at just jumped from they wrapped around them until it broke into pieces.

[What an amazing chase, Mason is giving our little Alice trouble! I wonder how this little fight will end! Will the loser be the Maker of Annihilation or our little Forest Hunter.]

"Of course, it'll be me."

Mason replied in a cocky tone as he began to chase after Alice who continued to head towards the clearing that standing before her. He reached into his pocket and his hands started to shine with a green light before fading out.

"I'm almost there."

Alice said as the wolf took a single leap outside of the forest and landed on the ground without any kind of aftereffect. It continued forward until stopping in the middle of the clearing. Once it did, Alice had it turn around to face the direction of where the attacks started from, but she couldn't see Mason anywhere behind her.

"From what I recall these brothers love sneak attacks. Come forth."

Alice's shadow continued to expand outwards again and various adult-sized humanoids came out with dense skin meant for more defense rather than just pure offense. All of them started to form a circle around making sure that no one would come from.

Alice made sure to stay on top of her wolf just to make sure that she could get away in time just in case something happened, but nothing happened.

"Where is he?"

Drop. Drop. Drop.

Alice thought she heard something falling from the skies and glanced towards the ground after she narrowed her eyes. Laid around Alice were several seeds placed all around her.

"Seeds?"

Alice questioned in confusion as she continued to stare at them until something very odd started happening to each of them.

Shine!

The seeds started glowing all around her giving out a faint pale green glow and―

Dooooooooooon! Dooooooooooon! Dooooooooooon!

All the seeds around her started exploding causing a great shock to come from the crowd who all watched as the match occurred.

[Look at this! Mason has brought out a new trick.]

* * *

"Alice-nee!"

Claire who watched the match with both Kensei and Zane let out a shocked sound as she watched the seeds around her explode on the verge of tears.

"Kensei?"

Zane who had an idea of what just happened glanced towards Kensei who narrowed his eyes.

"Tch. All living things including plants have that unknown part of them and by using an ability like Senjutsu, a person can make use of them in various ways. But since his Arbor Field is can control all plant-life in his area and through the personal training that those two went through, he found out how to use those parts to accomplish that kind of feat."

The three children watched as Alice came out of the explosion and rolled around the ground, then started to breathe heavily from the impact.

[What a thing! Alice came out of that explosion with relatively no injuries at all.]

"How did she get out of there?"

Zane question, but as the smoke cleared, both he and Kensei noticed the human-sized creatures saved Alice from the explosions, while the wolf threw her away from the explosion. They acted on their instincts to protect their creator.

"They protected her."

"Of course," Kensei replied to Claire's statement as watching portions of the creatures blown apart and started to regenerate. "Alice is the kind of person who views everything that she creates as a living work of art that is apart of her, the same thing applies to the creatures that she creates using her sacred gear. As they're apart of her, they reacted to the fear that came up within her and acted. From the looks of it, the explosion caused them to become stalled and from the looks of it Alice is incapable of handling another hit like that."

Kensei stated as he stared at the holographic scream.

"Alice did mention that she born with a more weaker body than most people her age and she used to get a lot sicker than normal. This is turning more and more into a one-sided fight if things continue like this."

"I wouldn't say that."

Kensei said causing both Claire and Zane to stare at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Alice is a weird girl," Kensei replied without the slightest bit of hesitation. "Claire remember how she always told us that she loves art more than anything and how she found that no inspiration at all whenever she fought against monsters. I could only interpret that as Alice finding no interest in a creature that made the same movements, but when up against a human who acts by using several tactics, then I think that could change in this fight."

* * *

Lying on the ground, Alice had covered her eyes using her hands and started breathing a bit heavier due to the movements that she wasn't at all used to. Her heart started beating at a fast rate within her chest and suddenly a smile started to form on her face.

Alice looked through the cracks of her hand coming into view was a long shadow that hovered in the air. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed that it was Mason who held vines wrapped all around his body and attached to huge leaves acting as wind letting him fly―no gliding in the air.

"So, this is how it feels to fight a human. I can already feel different ideas coming into my head."

Alice said to herself as she started to stand back up.

As Mason continued to float towards the ground, he reached into his pocket pulling out three much larger seeds.

"Let's see out she deals with these."

Mason replied as he threw them towards the ground.

The moment that the seeds landed on the ground, they reached into the soil and started to open up using the unknown source within the plant-life. Born from one of them were a numerous amount of thorny vines that all attempted to wrap around Alice; the other was various wooden spears that looked like they could pierce through steel; and a giant flytrap that had sharp teeth.

"Alright, then I'll call forth my Guardian."

Saying that with a fascinated look for the first time and caused her shadow to expand outwards, then what came out of it was a shadow. Instead of the usual creature that would come out from her shadow, it was a teenager of average height carrying a Japanese-styled sword in its hand. At the same time that it took shape, the other creatures that Alice had made came back together.

"Rip her to pieces."

Before Alice could give out an order, all of the vines and wooden spears started shooting outwards towards her from all sides, but before either of them could reach her. The adult-sized humanoids stood in front of the vines using their bodies to catch the thorny vines and wooden spears. Despite all of Mason's attempts none of them could be pulled out from their bodies.

"Fine, attack her!"

Calling out a command, the enormous flytrap shot towards Alice opening its wide mount in an attempt at eating her whole. Though, before it could even reach out, the creation that Alice called her "Guardian" moved at god-speed brandishing the edge of its sword cutting off roots of the plant in seconds causing Mason to become shocked.

"Wh-What the hell?!"

"Nothing that you can make can defeat my Guardian," Alice said as she stared at all of the moves that her Guardian started making similar to that of a skilled swordsman and she smiled brightly as it continued to move to protect her from the giant flytrap. "My Guardian is someone who will do whatever he has to protect me and the girl who I too view as my precious little sister."

Based on how Alice talked, it sounded as if she were talking about someone else instead of what stood in front of her. Before long her creatures started to tear apart all the plants that Mason made causing him to stare at her with an annoyed look.

"You bitch! I'm going to make you suffer!"

Reaching into his pocket, Mason pulled out a much larger seed that had various glowing lines all across it. At the same time that he threw it towards her, the wolf started to move. The moment that the seed landed on the ground, an abnormal thorn-riddled vine shot out from the ground and went in the direction of Alice as if it had a mind of its own. Before it got any further, the wolf opened up its jaws gripping the vines in its mouth causing them to slow down slightly, but it continued to move forward.

Sensing the inner danger of its creator, one of the humanoids who stopped the previous fines had stepped in front of Alice using its body as a shield. Alice let out a slight sigh as the entirety of the vine had stopped in its tracks, but her eyes widened as it started to extend forward again. Alice somehow reacted to it on time and moved her head out of the way with only a scrape that caused a small wound to open.

"I almost became worried there for a moment."

At the same moment, her Guardian had made its move and arrived in front of Mason with its blade pointed directly at the young man's neck. Seeing that he had no other option, but to surrender.

"I give up."

Mason said as he held both his hands out and admitted defeat.

[Mason has admitted defeat! The winner is Alice Evangelista! Now will everyone, I ask that you all await as the next match that will start in the next five minutes!]

After hearing the arbiter let out that announcement, the crowd started to yell causing their voices to resonate across the arena. A mischievous smile formed on Mason's face as he started to walk in the direction of Alice with a faux smile.

"That was a good fight, Ms. Alice, I can see why our employers hold you in such high regards."

Mason held his hand out in a gentle manner, but Alice narrowed her eyes towards him and started to walk away out of the arena after it returned to normal.

"That is the same fake smile that the guys who brought me here gave me," Alice answered in a cold tone. "I have no intention of being allied with either of you people."

After saying that last response, Alice left the felt, but as she was walking away, she started to feel sudden wave drowsiness that nearly caused her to tumble over. Once she regained herself, Alice thought that it was just an effect from the battle and continued to leave, but the smile that formed on Mason's face made it all the more ominous.

* * *

"See," Kensei who finished watching the match with both Claire and Zane who both let a breath of relief escape from their mouths. "I told you that Alice would be alright."

"I can admit when I'm wrong, but man you do know Alice more than I do."

Zane had stated with a slight smile being grateful that he didn't see another one of his friends that was brutally injured or killed during this tournament. Seeing that Alice left the arena, Claire began to head in the direction of the front door so that she could meet her at the entrance leading to their residence and congratulate her in person.

"I'm going to meet up with Alice-nee, knowing her she won't be capable of making it home on her own without passing out on the ground."

"Alright, I'll join you," Kensei replied just as he was prepared to walk outside, but he was stopped by Zane who held him by the back of his shirt. "Is there something wrong?"

"There's something else that I wanted to talk about."

"Oh, what would that be?"

After seeing that Claire had already stepped outside and began to run to meet up with Alice at the entrance, Zane glanced towards Kensei with a bit of a serious look.

"It's actually about Claire."

Once he heard that from Zane, Kensei stared at him with a bit more of a serious look and stood in front of his friend/ally.

"What about Claire?"

* * *

Claire walked outside and she started to head in the direction of the entrance in front of this area's resident. As she was heading there, she started to see all the other children who were around her age brought on the island against their will. Amongst all of them, there was a single spectacled girl that had come up to talk with her.

"Hey, Claire-chan."

"Ah, hello. Rui-san."

In front of her, was a girl who looked to be at least a year older than herself with peach blonde hair and brownish-red eyes; her most notable features were the animal dog-like ears and a raccoon-like tail that. Due to the lessons from her mother and Kensei, Claire knew that Rui was a Tanuki, a kind of Japanese Youkai similar to that of a Kitsune (Fox Youkai).

"Hmm, what's with this Rui-san," Rui questioned as her ears started to twitch. "I thought that I said that you could call me Rui-chan."

Claire started to feel almost overwhelmed by the older girls insistence by Rui, if she were being a bit paranoid, then she would have thought that Rui was using her race's unique abilities almost by instinct and not through intent.

"Th-Then Rui-chan."

Claire replied in a nervous tone, but it caused Rui to smile energetically and wrapped both of her arms around the gray-haired devil-hybrid. As Claire was being hugged into the budding bosom of the full-blooded Tanuki causing her to make an almost uncomfortable look on her face.

"Uh, Rui-chan. Can you let me go?"

"Hmmm, okay."

Rui replied in an energetic manner causing Claire to move from her letting out a couple of breaths out of relief. Seeing that Claire wasn't with neither Kensei nor Alice, that caused a bit of curiosity to well up in the chest of Rui.

"So, what're you doing," Rui inquired as she stood in front of Claire with a single hand placed under her chin. "Why is it that you would be away from your precious "Nii-chan" and "Alice-nee"?"

"You know in the Human World, there is an expression that says curiosity killed the cat."

"But, I'm not a cat," Rui replied as she pointed at her animal ears and tail that twitched the moment that she pointed at them. "I'm a Tanuki, a raccoon-dog."

"I know that," Claire replied letting out a slight sigh. "It's a proverb that means, being inquisitive about other people's affairs may get you into trouble. And to answer your question, I'm going to where Alice-nee is coming in from. Didn't you watch her match against Mason?"

Hearing her response caused Rui to stare at her with a surprised look, but she soon started to nod her head in understanding.

"I didn't watch it, I was kind of avoiding my roommate. So, I kinda hid somewhere where she could not find and even hid my ki."

Rui replied nervously, but it caused Claire to nod her head in understanding, while she made a look of distaste.

"Yes, that Nekomata who's trying to take away my Nii-chan."

Claire's tone matched her expression and complete with crossing her arms while turning away.

"Wow, you don't like…."

"Oh, Alice-nee!"

The same time that Claire turned away, she noticed Alice walking in their direction, but she could tell that Alice was a bit shaky on her feet.

Claire started to run in her direction causing Rui to follow after her. As both of them continued to get closer and closer to Alice, they started to notice that her face was a lot paler than it normal and both her legs were shaky.

"A-Alice-nee."

Claire called out in a worried tone and her expression turned grave as Alice fell forward landing on the ground almost motionless.

"Alice-nee!"

Claire let out a desperate cry and ran in the direction of her downed adoptive older sister with Rui following behind her.

* * *

Inside of the Zane's House, both he and Zane stood in front of one another with both their sights being locked on one another.

"Are you sure about Claire?"

Kensei was in a state of confusion about what he was just told by Zane who continued to stand in front of him with the same expression from before on his face.

"Due to the nature of my "Source", I could tell that Claire held an abnormal aura around her when I always around her," Zane replied in a serious tone as he opened and closed his right hand as if an unknown presence started to seep out. "There's not a single doubt in my mind that is the presence that I sensed."

"Hmm, I knew that Claire had potential, but―"

Open!

"Kensei, we have trouble!"

"Rui? What…Alice?!"

Once he and Zane turned around with a look of seriousness on their face, but it soon turned into a pale look almost as if all the blood has drained from them. Kensei noticed Rui carrying Alice on her back with the paleness of her face becoming more apparent and her breathing becoming more and more erratic.

"What happen?!"

"I don't know," Rui replied as she walked inside of the house placing Alice on Zane's couch so that they could get a better look at her condition. "I joined Claire to meet up with Alice, but when we all saw her, Alice started acting weird and just passed out."

Hearing the explanation from Rui, Kensei placed his hand on her forehead and felt her starting to get colder and colder by the moment. Once she felt the warm sensation from his hand on top of her head, Alice opened her eyes a bit, then glanced towards Kensei who knelt next to her.

"Th…This scene depicts the princess who has fallen ill due to the act of an evil botanist," Kensei as he heard Alice speak softly at a volume that he could hear stared at her with a blank look. "And, so with her final moments at hand, her prince…."

Yank!

Kensei tugged softly at Alice's cheek, but not hard enough to cause any actual pain. Though, since it was Alice, then it hurts just around who it usually would, but Kensei stared at her with a look of sympathy being painted on his face.

"Rui, where did Claire go?"

"Claire went to your house to see if she could find any medicine that can help, but we don't even know what caused this to begin with."

"What caused…."

"…this…."

Both Kensei and Zane glanced towards one another before looking towards the side of her cheek, which still had the found the wound that was still on her cheek. The wound caused during the last moments during her match against Mason when she got scratched by that last thorned vine.

"The wound that Mason caused using that last vine must have been poisonous."

"I'm going to kill the son of a…."

Kensei tightened his fist with an angered look on his face, but before he could finish Claire ran into the living room with a tired look on her face and began to breathe heavily with a pained look on her face.

"I-I couldn't find anything. There is no kind of medicine out our house that can help Alice-nee," she replied with a saddened look. "I don't know what else we can do."

As everyone in the room made a grave look on their face, but Kensei let out a sigh causing the ones around him to glance towards him.

"There's one thing that we can do."

"What's no matter what it is, we have to save Alice-nee."

"We have to ask Hisui for help."

Hearing his response caused both Claire to stare at him as if he had two heads, but he continued to stare back at her with the same look on his face.

"I'm sorry, but it sounded as if you wanted to ask that Nekomata for help."

Claire replied almost dangerously as a faint blackish-blue demonic-aura started to wrap all around her body as if speaking out her distaste for this idea.

"Claire, I know that the two of you have your _unique_ ways to express yourselves, but we have to do this for Alice," Kensei gave her a response caused Claire to cease her defiance about asking this Nekomata for help. "There are a lot of people who are capable of healing certain wounds and not toxins, but a person who can use Senjutsu can rid the poison inside of her body and heal her injuries. And Hisui is one of the Nekomata on the island who can use both to the level to achieve our desired treatment."

"I know that, but…."

Hearing both of them talk caused Alice to raise her hand.

"Uh, don't I have a say in this. I mean, I'm the one who got poisoned," Alice added in with her usual blank look, but it was a bit blanker due to the poison running slowly in her body. "I have lived most of my childhood sick due to this weak body that I was born with and had to spend some days away from school in bed with either a fever or a cold. And no illness that I have had in the past can match to how terrible I am feeling now."

All of them around her couldn't help but feel sorry for her due to that statement alone. One due to how none of them knew how it felt to be that sick all the time; and second because of how used to it that Alice was as none of them could see the slightest look of discomfort on her face.

"That's…just depressing."

Rui added with a sad look.

"Alright fine, we'll go to see Hisui."

After Claire agreed to it, Kensei went to Alice and held her in his arms in a princess carry causing her to gain a faint blush.

"Ah, the Legendary Princess Carry," Alice sighed as if she were dreaming. "The sick princess dying from an illness in the arms of her chosen princes shall die happily in his arms."

"You're not dying. So stop trying to think of the scenario for a painting," Kensei replied dryly as he began to walk out through the front door. "I'll see you later, Zane."

Zane nodded his head in agreement with what the two of them talked about coming back into his head, but Kensei wanted to worry most about Alice's care first. Seeing how the three of them were heading to her home, Rui followed after her.

* * *

In a different residential area on Hagun Island near the forested area, in front of a certain house, Rui arrived in front of a house and opened the door using her key. On the way there, Alice is seen currently being carried on Kensei's back after Claire started showing some discomfort with someone other than herself being carried around like a princess.

"Welcome to the home of Hisui and Rui!"

Rui called cheerfully as she directed all of them inside of their home and coming into the living room. Though it didn't look too different from theirs or the other homes on the island, Kensei could tell that it shared the same feeling as both of its residents.

"This place certainly has the same feel as you and Hisui."

Kensei replied in a gentle tone.

"Rui-chan," a soft voice came from inside the lone room inside the house. "Finally, you came back, I can't believe you ran away after one little incident."

"A 'little incident', really," Rui replied in a mortified tone. "I don't think you "playing" with my body is a little incident."

Kensei, Alice, and Claire looked shocked by what came out of her mouth knowing and some knew full well what that meant.

"Oh, come on. I was just playinnng~"

Walking into the living out of the lone room was a green-haired young woman whose hair looked a lot like jade with light green eyes; she looked to be at least around the same age as Kensei, but the most striker was the matching green cat ears and tail. She is the Nekomata named Hisui and is one of the surviving Nekoshou.

"Behave yourself Hisui we have guests."

"Oh, so we have guests," Hisui danced in the room but stopped after she noticed a specific person standing in front of them causing her to gain a cat-like smile. "I see, I understand."

"Oh, so you already understand the―"

"Give it a second."

Hearing Claire mumble that in an annoyed manner.

"You've finally come to profess your love for me, Ken Ken!"

Hisui proclaimed out loud as she jumped towards Kensei like a cat pouncing at their prey.

She later jumped towards Kensei causing him to nearly fall backward together with Alice, but he remained steady on his feet. Hisui started to rub her cheek affectionately against his with a look of affection look on her face.

"You finally defeated to abandon your dreams of being with that stuffy little sister of yours."

"I'm standing right here you horrid insufferable woman!"

Claire cried out loud as she directed her attention towards Hisui who continued to have her arms wrapped around Kensei's arm.

"I don't think that this is a conversation that a little shrimp should get involved in."

"Shrimp! Listen to me you third-rate―"

"Okay, before both of you start raving at one another again," Kensei sighed getting in-between both of them. "Hisui, Alice was injected with poison during her match with Mason and so I wanted to know…."

"Say no more," Hisui replied after stepping away from Kensei. "You want little ol' me to remove all the toxin from the body of our little Alice-chan. Well, since that isn't a relatively difficult thing for me to do, I could do it in a single night and with adding other kinds of treatment for the body of out little Alice-chan. But, there is one tiny little thing that I want from Ken Ken."

"…."

"What do you want?"

Instead of Kensei asking, Claire asked for him with an irate look on her face, while Hisui stared at him with her cheeks turning red.

"Say you love me and mean it~"

Snap! Something inside Claire snapped with a demonic aura started to wrap around her body with both Kensei, Alice, and Rui to direct their attention towards the nine-year-old who had a dark smile on her face. Since Kensei started using his ki again, he has started to become a bit more sensitive and aware of what was around him. After sensing the aura that covered her body, Kensei couldn't help but notice her potential.

"Nii-chan saying that he loves someone other than me first," Claire said in a bit of a dangerous tone. "You're asking for more trouble than you thought possible Hisui."

"Oh my, if Claire-chan is going to get serious," Hisui replied in more of a dark tone with a presence different from Claire's demonic-aura. "Then, I will have to get serious."

The aura that wrapped around Hisui was a bit more potent than Claire, but she didn't care about it, she had no intention of giving up. Their glances remain locked on one another with their auras starting to become more apparent. Seeing the expression that was on her face, Hisui narrowed her eyes a bit, but it later returned to her usual playful look.

"Just~ Kidding~"

Hearing that caused the expression on Claire's face to turn dumbfounded, while both Kensei and Rui had almost face fault on the ground after all that build-up. Hisui waved her hand wearing a mainly nonchalant look on her face.

"What made you think that I want to fight Ken Ken's precious little sister? I'm a lot of things, but I would never harm a little girl that was younger than I am. Though, teasing them always warms up my heart."

Rui sighed after seeing the antics of her roommate, but she later glanced at Alice who looked as if she were starting to get worse again.

"Why don't you guys leave Alice-chan here with us for the night so that Hisui can deal with all her injuries," Rui suggested as she glanced towards them. "Don't worry about dinner, I can handle that."

"Does that sound alright Alice?"

Kensei questioned the blonde who leaned her head against him showing that exhaustion that had started to overcome her. To answer him, Alice nodded her head in agreement. Seeing her response, Kensei started to walk in the direction of their couch and laid her down comfortably on her back.

"We'll come back tomorrow and check on you, Alice."

"…Okay."

Alice replied in a slight weak tone.

Kensei later leaned forward pressing his lips against her forehead causing a faint blush to appear on her cheeks, while Hisui stared at what he did with a look of shock.

"Ara, do I get a forehead kiss if I do a good job, Ken Ken?"

"Maybe," Kensei replied in a soft tone. "Come on, Claire."

"Okay."

Claire replied in an almost saddened tone, but it later stopped after feeling a familiar sensation on top of her head. Once she looked up, she noticed that Kensei had walked in front of her and placed his hand comfortably on her head, then started to pet her head.

"Let's go home, okay," Kensei said in a gentle tone. "You don't have to worry about anything, Alice will be alright."

After seeing the look that was on his face and hearing the calm words that came out of his mouth, Claire softened her expression into one that was normal for someone her age and smiled brightly.

"Okay, Let's go, Nii-chan."

Claire replied like any little sister, then grabbed Kensei's hand, while she stuck her tongue out at Hisui who still had her nonchalant look. Both of them later walked outside of Rui and Hisui's home, while holding one another's hands.

"Okay," Hisui called out in an almost too energetic manner "If I want that forehead kiss, I'll have to get to work immediately. So, Rui-chan gets started with dinner."

"Alright, but I won't promise much."

Rui replied as she went into what was called the kitchen in their home and started a fire, then she began to fill a small metal pot with water and proceeded to cook with what ingredients that they had.

As she continued to do that, Hisui held her hand out towards Alice's body, the latter noticed that a bluish-white aura starting to cover her whole body. Based on what she heard from Kensei, one of the powers that Hisui could use was called Senjutsu:

Senjutsu was different from magic and sorcery, it stresses the importance of the original power that flowed in one's spirit, ones life-force and turns it into a constant current. It could make use of the unknown parts of living organisms such as plants and animals. If one were to learn Senjutsu, then they can excel in reading the flow of someone's spirit and auras letting him grasp their movements from away distances. Another use lets them control their flow of ki letting the user reinforce their internal and external bodies or even damage and repair damages dealt with a person's spirit or life-force. There were little methods of defending against senjutsu using magic.

Alice started to feel a warn yet comfortable sensation wrapped around her body and she could feel that her condition starting to become a lot better.

"How're you feeling?"

"I'm feeling a lot better."

Alice replied in a more energetic tone.

"Good, I'm currently controlling your flow of ki and removing whatever toxic substance remaining inside of your body," Hisui replied with a bit of an ecstatic look on her face. "Though, I have to say that manipulating the ki of a Longinus wielder certainly is an interesting experience."

"I got the slightest chill after you said that," once Alice heard how excited Hisui got once she said had caused the blonde to become a bit scared. "I hope that you're not planning anything."

"Of course not, I would start to feel bad if I did that to someone Ken Ken asked me to help."

Hisui replied in an honest tone but is also caused Alice to stare at her with a bit of a confused look on her face.

"Why is it that you like Kensei so much?"

"Huh? Where is this coming from?"

Hearing Alice's out of the nowhere question caused Hisui to almost stop her treatment, due to how sudden it was.

"It's not that odd as to why Claire and I like Kensei as both of us had been living with him for over a month. Though it did take me a bit longer than Claire to start noticing what affection I have towards him, for you, it was almost at the moment that you met him. So, I wanted to know what is your reasons for liking him so much."

Again, hearing her response caused her a bit of shock. As she never expected that Alice who had never shown any kind of interest in anything was able to notice that much detail in someone.

"I'm surprised, I didn't think that you of all people would ask me that," Hisui let out a bit of a laugh out of surprise. "Well, how exactly can I put this? …I was kind of love at first sight."

"Eh, is that all?"

"I'm probably sure that you know that as a Nekoshou are the strongest species amongst cat-type, so our species we can master both Youjutsu and unlock Senjutsu," Hisui replied. "Since childhood, I was always sensitive to the ki of others and growing up I always felt disgusted by the evil intent that lied deep within some of the humans that I met. Though, I never got that feeling from Kensei the moment that I met him. Even after all that happened, there wasn't the slightest hint of malice in him no matter how deep that I seemed to go."

Alice started at Hisui who currently at a flushed look on her face after saying that last line.

"Uh."

"What I found inside of Ken Ken was something that I've never sensed before from other humans that I still get giddy thinking about."

Hisui replied as she placed both her hands on the side of her cheeks and started moving around her body with a goofy look on her face. Hearing her response caused Alice to stare at Hisui with a look of understanding. Alice could think of several reasons as to why she liked Kensei more than just a friend and she could guess why Claire carries the same feelings as her.

"I see."

Alice replied in an understanding manner.

"Well, let's continue your treatment."

Hisui said as she continued to wrap Alice in Senjutsu while controlling her flow of ki.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the third chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, I apologize that it took so long to update this story. I went through a lot of stuff in a while that kind of slowed down my progress, but I think that I can get back on track. In this chapter, met a couple of new characters in the form of a friend/ally of Kensei named Zane and both talked about various ways of escaping, but they appear to be stumped for now. Claire runs into the room stating that Alice was called in for another match and instead of another monster, it was against another sacred gear user who decided to side with their captors. In this chapter, we got to see what Alice could do in a fight using Annihilation Maker and we got a close look at another kind of sacred gear that controls plant life.**

 **Two more new youkai characters were introduced, one of being a Tanuki (A Raccoon-Dog Youkai) and a new Nekoshou. Zane also revealed that he felt someone odd about Claire, but neither he nor Kensei has revealed what that feeling was. All of them (except for Zane) took Alice to be healed by the Nekoshou named Hisui who Claire seems to have some disdain towards. The chapter later end with Alice receiving her senjutsu treatment.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui.**


	4. Life on Hagun Island

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let us answer some reviews:**

 **Awayuki: Thanks. Though, you haven't told me about an OC yet.**

 **Hellspam: Thanks, I'm happy to hear that you liked the chapter. There will be more revealed about Zane and Hisui in future chapters, I promise you that. Her nickname for Kensei is really cute and I will make the next chapter as interesting as possible.**

 **Guest: I like the idea of a descendant of Lü Bu to be in his harem, thanks for the suggestion.**

 **Rider126: Here it is.**

* * *

 **Life on Hagun Island**

Located in Paradise, the capital on Hagun Island built as a small industrialized metropolis that acts as the prime location for any form of business for Taro and built in the middle of the island. Paradise also acts as the residents for those who pledged their alliance to Taro. Inside this capital, there were restaurants and locations where all his partners can rest before the start of the next round of the Gehenna Tournament.

However for those who live in the small residential areas built for their captors forced to either fight for their own amusement or farm for their food; there were small shops where they could buy a number of goods, but all of the locations were at various hidden spots so his business partners wouldn't feel disgusted by their presence in their luxurious locations outside of the arenas.

The attitudes of those residing in these areas are the exact definition of high-class and snobby.

Inside of one of the main hotels built on Hagun Island, Paradise Hotel, there was an advance training room built on one of the lower floors of the hotel. Sitting on the ground was Mason, who stretched his arms with a smirk on his face after recalling the last seconds of his match from this evening when he used one of his poisoned plants from his Arbor Field to poison Alice.

"I hope that dopey looking bitch is suffering right now."

Mason said in a snide tone as she drank the glass of juice placed next to him.

He showed no remorse at all about how he poisoned Alice using one of his plants, it wasn't much of a surprise as him and his brother have done a lot of cruel things to the other captives on this island to prove their worth. Neither of them regretted essentially sold themselves to become honorary members of Hagun Island's Gehenna Guards.

"I wouldn't doubt the survival skills of those worthless maggots," a voice familiar to Mason called out as he placed his glass back on the ground. "Just look at all the others who survived despite all of the harsh conditions here. And if memories serve, there is a couple of Youkai in their area who specializes in something called Senjutsu I believe."

Standing before him was a blonde-haired young man the same age at him and the same facial features as Mason. His older twin brother, Jason. Posted in front of him were various targets with dents in each of them using a sharp projectile and each of them was perfect shots. Jason carried a bow made completely out of golden light in his hands.

"But, do you know the difference between us and them?"

"What would that be?"

"The difference between us and them is," making an instant motion, Mason directed his attention towards one of the targets that have yet to have an arrow piercing it and created an arrow of light after making a pulling motion of the bowstring. He released the string firing off the arrow hitting the bullseye in an almost flawless manner. "We have what it takes to survive and made the right decision needed to survive. Living in leisure like this for just the price of turning against all of the other filthy maggots living in the residential areas."

"Because we're the Hunters, not the Hunted."

"It doesn't matter what happens, even if everyone in those little Residential Areas dies," Jason said as he willed his bow away. "We'll still be the ones standing on top."

"Damn, right."

* * *

"Hmm~ Hmm~ Hmm~"

The next morning, Claire was inside the kitchen keeping breakfast for both her and Kensei, while she hummed a song to herself with a smile plastered on her face. She was preparing just eggs and bacon, as it were just some of the essential things that all of them were given, but it was better than nothing. Claire glanced towards Kensei, who stood on his feet with his hands placed together in a meditative stance.

After getting up at around the same time as Claire, he started talking about getting back into his original fighting style taught to him by his mother. And standing in that still posture, while making his mind go blank was the first method that he had to fulfill before going onto the next step. Claire watched as he continued to stand there and it caused her to look down in shame.

After watching how hard Alice fought during her match against Mason and couldn't help, but think about all the times that she was waiting home for them to return. At times they had either minor or serious injuries caused by their matches. It made her feel useless just doing nothing, but farming with the others who refused to fight and rely on Kensei and Alice.

Even though, both knew that Claire could hold her own in a fight against all the monsters in Gehenna; Kensei, on the other hand, didn't want her involved. Claire knew that he was just being protective of her, but―

"I can fight too."

Claire mumbled to herself in a low tone.

She held her hand out and gathered a mass of demonic power, it was colored silver holding the kind of brilliance that would cause someone to question if it were the power of a Devil. It shaped into an orb around the size of a basketball and it held the kind of quality that someone would expect would from a High-Class Devil.

Claire stared at the orb of demonic power with careful eyes as memories of what she learned from her mother and her peerage to get it like that. Claire lowered her eyes as the memories came back, then what occurred afterward and dispersed the orb.

"…." Claire breathed in and out as a terrible sense of foreboding came to mind, then she slapped both sides of her cheeks a couple of times in an attempt to snap out of it. "No more terrible thoughts, all of them are fine. Kaa-san is fine, she is strong and she has her peerage with her. Tou-san is with them, so everything will be alright. I'll introduce them to Nii-chan and Alice-nee."

Claire smiled attempting to reassure herself that everything will be alright, but she couldn't help but have this terrible feeling welling in her chest. Wanting to take her mind off of it, Claire went back to cooking breakfast for Kensei and herself.

Meanwhile, Kensei remained in a meditative posture focusing to the point where it felt as if the world outside was motionless and silent. It felt as if he was diving into a darkness that seemed almost like an abyss that could only be found at the bottom of the deepest ocean. As Kensei continued to go deeper into this darkness, he could almost feel a mystifying warmed originating from a single source within himself from his spirit, in other words, his life-force. It was something that flowed in all living being, but it was an important part of the techniques utilized by his family.

Kensei felt himself coming closer to this light source, but he was being restricted by something and it didn't take him long to realize what it was.

(No wonder it took me longer to heal my injuries. Since I forced myself from using the Amagiri-ryū, I could barely harness my ki like I used to anymore. At most, I can channel it into a weapon and use the basic techniques of the Amagiri-ryū.) Kensei felt that it was a sense of irony after the lack of effort he put into using ki for the first time. Hahaha, for someone that the adults in the Amagiri Clan once called a prodigy, for me not to be able to use my ki is kind of pathetic.)

Kensei laughed as he left from this self-induced meditative state, and started relaxing his muscles.

"I need to fix this."

"Fix what?"

Kensei opened his eyes wide at the sudden yet familiar voice, then flipped over the other end of the couch from his former position and got into a prepared stance. Once Kensei looked and saw that it was Alice, who was staring at him with her usual blank look, including Claire who stared at him with the same look as Alice causing him to become embarrassed.

"Well, that was hurtful. Am I that scary?"

"Alice?! When did you get back?!"

"Hmm, just a while ago. Though, I didn't expect to get that kind of welcome home from you."

Once Kensei recovered from the shock the received after coming from the meditative state of mind, he let out a slight sigh and glanced towards Alice.

"That was a natural reaction, you never sneak up on someone who's coming out of a meditative state like that…especially, someone who hasn't mastered it yet. Besides, my mother did the same thing a lot so I react in that manner whenever someone manages to sneak up on me."

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't know."

Kensei stared at Alice with a curious look on his face. Even though she looked the same as before, it was her complexion that caught his attention. Alice didn't have her usual pale complexion, it was a bit more normal compared to before.

"Alice. You don't look sick anymore…you look better than before."

"Oh," Alice said as she started throwing her fist into the air several times. "I feel better than I ever had before…can't you tell that I am more energetic."

Kensei stared at Alice as she continued to throw her fist into the air, then started to perform various motions in an attempt to look energetic…at least that was how it looked to him. Though he couldn't help but agree with her as he hadn't seen her move around like that before. Hisui had done an amazing job in healing Alice by using her Senjutsu.

"I came along with her."

Another familiar voice entered the room, as Kensei turned his head and noticed that it was just who he thought that it was. It was Rui who smiled at him with a kind look.

"Hey, Rui."

"Hey, Kensei-kun."

"Wait, where's Hisui," he questioned in a confused manner. "I thought that she would be here teasing Claire."

"…huh."

Claire said that last part with a deadpanned look and tone, but the three of them stared at the look on both Alice's and Rui's faces causing them to somewhat figure out what was on their mind.

"…it's Hisui's turn to fight this time, isn't it?"

"Yes, it happened right after she finished the second treatment this morning," Alice replied. "Since yesterday all of the matches as started to become more difficult than they were before."

Both Kensei and Alice, and to a certain degree Claire wore a grim look as it was the first time that they would be able to watch Hisui in a fight, and so neither of them knew what she could do in a fight. However, Rui started to make a confident look on her face even though she was still worried about her roommate and best friend.

"Guys don't worry, Hisui has been fighting in the Gehenna for much longer than both Ken-kun and Alice-chan," Rui informed them with her tongue sticking out. "Don't forget, both her and I had been kept on the hellhole for at least a year before either of you arrived."

Hearing that from Rui caused some sense of relief to form in their chest, but it ceased after a holographic screen had displayed the visual of the arena. In the display revealed Hisui wearing her usual expression as she started to walk around the field that she was sent in for her match. Kensei was somewhat familiar with the location as it looked similar to a place that he went to once with his mother.

 _"I think that place is near Kyoto…where I first met…."_

* * *

[Now! For the next battle, we have our longtime contestant.] The announcer called out interrupting his thought. [Among the rare species of Nekomata, the Nekoshou, Hisui!]

Hisui walked through the streets that looked like a replication of a location inside of Kyoto, she wasn't dressed in armor like everyone else, it was just simple light clothing that was easy to move around in. Hisui used Senjutsu to locate for any nearby presence of her opponent and she did sense a disgusting aura closing in on her location, but she could tell that it wasn't walking to her―it was running towards her.

"I think that I've sensed this before. I believe that it is a…."

Crash!

Blowing through one of the building was a three-meter tall monstrous disgusting ogre with a single horn coming out from its forehead with red-colored skin and carrying a thick metal black iron club that she recognized as being a kanabō (Metal Stick). The red ogre aimed its iron club towards Hisui, who used her natural reflexes to move out from the trajectory of the ogre's weapon.

"…an Oni. And I believe it is at least above low-class strength."

Hisui said to herself as she landed on the ground.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, the oni faced Hisui and continued charging at her swinging its iron club around with enough force to cause wind pressure. Again using her natural cat-like reflexes, she was capable of avoiding the attacks, but the pressure caused by the attacks pushed her backward. Hisui knew that she couldn't handle a head-on attack from these attacks. The oni amassed aura of a demonic nature into its arms and buffed up its muscles, then swung its iron club horizontally causing Hisui's facial expression to turn grim.

"Oh, no!"

Hisui made a couple of hand signs and using some kind of jutsu that formed a barrier in front of her, however, it didn't last for a second as it crumbled away as if it were just bits of glass. The attack slammed into Hisui into her stomach causing her body to be thrown crashing into the ground and spat out blood from her mouth. Before she knew it, two more onis, one with black skin and the other with blue skin. The red oni later attacks with the rest of his brethren raising all of their spiky iron clubs and then―

Slam! Slam! Slam! Slam! Smash! Smash! Smash! Smash!

All of them started letting out a barrage of attacks at the downed Hisui using their iron clubs causing the ground to become unearth and causing dust to gather around the oni who started to crackle in laughter from the brutality of their attacks. The crowd stared at the scene to a confused look on their faces.

"Is that it?"

"I thought that Nekoshou was supposed to be a lot stronger than this."

"What a weak ending."

The crowd of betters stared at the scene with a look of disappointment on their collective faces.

"Hehehehe."

The crowd stopped their talk as they heard soft laughter coming from the arena, as the smoke cleared it showed Hisui beaten and battered with blood coming from certain parts of Hisui. Though she continued to laugh at all of the Onis as they stared down at her battered body.

"As I thought, they couldn't capture any oni who could utilize Youjutsu and instead chose to pick the easiest ones to capture."

Hisui continued to laugh as she stared at them with a condescending look on her face.

"Grrrr!"

The red oni raised its foot and stomped on both Hisui's legs, but it couldn't feel any physical resistance from the attack. After the red oni removed its foot and saw that her legs started to vanish away as if it were mist, revealing that it wasn't Hisui it was just an illusion created using Youjutsu.

"Hello, red, blue, and black oni!"

A sudden voice came from nearby causing all three of them to turn towards the source, it was several three 'Hisui' who were sitting at a small concession stand waving their hands at the oni. All of them channeled demonic power into their iron clubs and fired off a shock wave them destroying the concession stand and leaving a small-sized crater showing off the aftermath of their attack wiping out the three 'Hisui'. Afterward, a purple poisonous mist started to surround the area and trapping the oni in it.

"…."

The three Oni started to cough as the mist started to affect them as it entered their system before either of them could react more and more clones of Hisui started appearing around the oni. Seeing them, the oni started aiming the clones using their iron clubs as if they were in a panic. Though the more they moved around, the more the poison started to travel throughout their bodies and started to spit out blood from their mouth. Seeing that all three of them were weakened from the poison, the real Hisui came out from the shadows, but she continued to conceal her presence.

"Step One, distract opponents using an illusion. Step Two, use the poisonous mist to weaken them. Step Three, use illusion to make the opponent move around and spread the poison across their system," Hisui mumbled to herself as she held her hands apart from one another. "And Step Four…attack."

Hisui breathed out and started to combine the powers of both Senjutsu and Youjutsu into a single concentration of power; it continued growing until reaching a size that was much bigger than Hisui herself and fired it off at all three of the oni. The attack made contact with them, there was a large explosion of power that covered all three of their bodies and blew away the poisonous mist. Once the smoke cleared, it revealed that their bodies were all blown away causing the crowd to screen in wonder.

[What an amazing display of power! I wouldn't expect anything from our veteran.]

Hisui sighed letting a breath of relief, as she wiped out a bit of sweat from her brow after all the power that she just let out.

"What an annoying crowd," Hisui sighed out. "I need actual practice off this stupid island. I want to see you again Kaa-chan."

* * *

Once her match was over, Hisui left the arena dressed in her 'normal' clothing and started heading to Residential Area B. Standing in the middle of the street waiting for her were both Rui and Claire; Rui stood there with a smile on her face, while Claire looked away without letting Hisui see her face.

However, her roommate/best friend was the first to speak up to before Hisui could say anything.

"That was an amazing match Hisui," Rui started with a compliment causing Hisui to become bashful. "You just had to see the look Kensei-kun's face when he saw your illusion flung into the ground and pummeled. He looked as if he was prepared to break into the arena and save you if I didn't stop him."

Hearing that confession from Rui caused Hisui's face to turn red from surprise and being overcome by emotions, she then placed her hands on both sides of her face.

"Ahhh~ I didn't think that I meant that much to Ken Ken," she replied as she swayed her body from left to right. "I can't wait to see him and receive my prize. Though, why is Claire here with you?"

"Ah, I don't know. She just followed me here and said that she wanted to say something."

"Hmm, what did Claire want to say too little o' me?"

Hisui questioned as she stared at Claire who remained turned in the other direction without letting the green-haired nekomata see the expression on her face.

"I wanted to thank you for helping Alice-nee like and that she has gotten a lot better than she was before," Claire had said in a bit sincere tone. "…also the match…was just a little awesome."

Hearing that from Claire caused a sudden feeling of happiness to fill up Hisui's chest, to the point where she ran to the gray-haired younger girl and wrapped her arms around her. It took a second for Claire to react to what just happened and she started making attempts at pushing away from Hisui while gaining a blush on her cheeks.

"Wh-What're you doing?!"

"Awwww~ Claire-chan when you're like this I can't help, but want to hug you."

"G-Get off of me!"

Claire was finally able to push the affectionate Hisui off of her causing the older female to stumble backward in a hilarious manner.

"Ah, don't be like that Claire-chan. By the way, where is Ken Ken…is he with Alice or Zane?"

"All three of them, they're at the playground where the other kids are at."

Hearing Claire's answer, Rui nodded her head in agreement and all four of them started heading in the direction of this 'playground' on Hagun Island.

* * *

Located in Residential Area C, a place near Residential Area B, which was where both Hisui and Rui lived with one another. In the area, there were several participants in their late teens including several children taken from their homes due to their special abilities whether it was a sacred gear or not. The area itself looked similar to the place where Kensei, Claire and Alice lived, but the so-called 'houses' were a lot bigger since the teenagers required a lot more space and the homes were maintained due to each of them saving a lot more money due to them being there a lot longer than anyone else.

Built near the middle opening of this residential area was a small 'playground' where the children who didn't want to fight or were too young to grow their food went to play.

"Here try and catch this!"

One of the boys kicked a handmade ball in the direction of a group of children who crowded around one another with their hands held out. As soon as it came close enough one of the girls caught it in their hands with a bright smile on her face.

"I finally caught it!"

"Then run!"

Hearing one of the older teens shouting that out, while sitting on the ground, the girl who caught the ball started to run away with it as the other children chased after her. Arriving in there were the three girls; Hisui, Rui, and Claire who smiled as they saw the younger children playing around as kids should.

"I'm surprised that those guys let them keep this park up and running."

"So as long as we don't cause any trouble, interfere with their game or attack the Gehenna Guards. We can do whatever we like."

A new voice came to the scene, once they turned around and noticed a blonde-haired young woman who looked to be at least sixteen-years-old and dressed in clothing a lot similar to theirs, there was also the slightest hint of a developing chest under her shirt. After seeing them, the blonde smiled and waved her hand.

"Hello, Abigail-san."

Claire greeted her with a bright smile.

Abigail was what the children would call an "Older Sister" in this area since whenever either of the children needs something, she would be the first person they would ask. She was also the person who spearheaded the mission of building this playground for the children. Abigail even built a wooden swing and slide for the children to play on, but the slide looked as if it were made of plastic instead of wood.

"I can't believe you had the alchemists here turn the wooden slide into a plastic one."

Hisui stated as she and the others followed Abigail to another area where Kensei was supposed to be with Alice and Zane. After hearing that from her Abigail smiled with a look of understanding.

"It was a bit difficult, but I didn't want any of the children to get a splinter while sliding down that hazard and it…," Abigail said before looking and noticing that one of the boys started to give off a mysterious glow with the intent of catching the ball. "Allen, no using your sacred gear to cheat!"

"S-Sorry, Sis."

The child apologized and ceased what he was attempting to do to catch the ball.

"I swear dealing with humans kids who hate to lose at a game is difficult enough, but dealing with kids who use special abilities like sacred gears is difficult."

"You are great at taking care of these kids," Rui said with a look of admiration.

"My mother used to run an orphanage for children like these," she said in a sad tone. "There are also a number of them who were brought here later on…it almost felt a miracle that I got to see them alive."

Abigail though felt disheartened that these children were brought on Hagun Island, a hellhole where children are forced to fight for survival and food. And most of these didn't either know how to fight or didn't want to be with, which is why she was it was up to the older children who were on Hagun Island for much longer to take care of all of them. Though Abigail would want to come up with a plan for getting out of this place, she felt that it would be best to leave the planning to those most capable and would assist them when the time came.

* * *

After a lot of walking, Abigail led all three of them to a location near the ocean where there was far more clearer space for people to do their training without interruption or worrying if something broke. The first thing that the others saw was Kensei running in the direction of one of the creatures made using Alice's Annihilation Maker; in his hands was a hiltless bokken (wooden sword) that seemed to have been handmade.

The creatures were three in total created by Alice in the shape of humanoids whose bodies' looked to have been made for offense rather than defense yet their bodies were also resilient. They were listed out as creature (a), creature (b), and creature (c). Meanwhile, Alice and Zane stood on the sidelines staring at him as he charged for the creatures at full speed. The moment that he made it in front of creature (b), it reacted aiming its fist at Kensei without hesitation.

Kensei reacted to the attack by spinning his body around in the air avoiding the punch by a hairsbreadth, then he channeled ki into his bokken and aimed it at the side of his neck. Once the attack made contact a notable sound reverberated through the attack didn't affect the creature in the slightest. Before he could make another attempt creature (c) aimed its fist at Kensei, though just like before he had spun in the air again avoiding its attack at a hairsbreadth. All three of the creatures started attacking him together with Kensei avoiding each of their attacks at a single inch of it making contact.

"What kind of training is Nii-chan doing?"

Claire questioned as she took a seat next to Alice who stared at her creatures attacking Kensei.

"He is attempting to get readjusted to using his families' Amagiri-ryū," Zane answered as he watched Kensei who continued attacking the three creatures from all sides and started doing it in a far more fluid manner compared to when he first started. "It is a similar exercise to someone who hasn't used a muscle in a long time and they train to build it up. Though…."

"Though, what?"

Claire questioned Zane after hearing his response.

"I received training from my family who was descendants of Wayland the Smith to forge weapons such as swords. And even among my family, there was never anyone who could get a weapon correct until trying for either the third or fourth time," Zane revealed as he stared at them. "I don't know much about Kensei's family as I hadn't asked him anything yet considering his situation. But, even among the Norse Pantheon, I've never anyone this suited for combat at the start. I don't know what kind of training he did with his mother, but it's almost as if Kensei is almost completely hardwired for combat."

Hearing Zane's response caused both Claire and Alice to stare at him as he continued to move forward at each of the three monsters, but he was doing so at a much quicker pace. Kensei read the movements of the creatures, he then started dodging all of the attacks as if he'd been doing so for the entire day. He felt as if he entered a single-minded state focusing on just combating these creatures and nothing else as he stood in the center. Kensei let a calming breath exiting his mouth as he focused his ki directly into his wooden sword and stomped on the ground with his eyes shined with a dangerous glint.

"Amagiri-ryū: Zantetsuken."

(Translation: Amagiri-Style: Iron Cutting Sword)

Kensei said in a low tone as he slashed his bokken in a complete circle by spinning his body around and cutting all three of the creatures in a sharp and precise manner, then their bodies faded away into nothingness. Once he had done that, he stood in a straight-up position breathing out as he held the bokken his hand.

"I'm steadily reaching back to my original form."

"Nii-chan that was awesome!"

Kensei was immediately pounced on by Claire who hugged him from his side with a bright smile on her face, he then stared at her with a soft smile.

"Sorry, I was so caught up in this, I didn't notice that you guys had arrived."

He replied as he glanced towards the others noticing that along with her both Hisui and Rui who were waving in his direction with smiles on their faces. Though before he could say anything, Hisui had approached him almost in an instantaneous manner causing him to jump a bit.

"So, I heard from a certain Tanuki that you were worried about me," saying that out loud caused Kensei to blush and glance away from her gaze. "I never thought that I meant that much to Ken Ken."

"Of course, we are friends after all and I care a lot about the people important to me," he replied with a smile on his face before leaning forward and kissing Hisui on her forehead causing her to blush a bit at the sensation of his lips on her forehead. "That was for doing a good job in healing Alice for us."

"Ara, Ken Ken truly doesn't understand what doing this means to a girl."

"I can at least agree with that."

Claire agreed with Hisui as she glanced away with a nervous smirk, but caused Kensei to stare at both of them with a confused look. He glanced over at Zane for an answer, who shrugged his shoulders, while shaking his head as if he didn't have an answer either.

""Women.""

Both Kensei and Zane said at the same time as if it were something that they heard older men around them and said a lot. Neither of them knew what it meant, but it oddly felt necessary for this situation.

[Men.]

The combination of Abigail, Hisui, Alice, Rui, and Claire said in unison causing both Kensei and Zane to become overtaken by the girls who stared at both of them with a blank look.

""Scary.""

Both of the boys backed down after feeling overwhelmed by them and backed away with both of their hands held up as if to defend themselves. As all of the younger and older kids stood there with one another, they just started to laugh amongst one another after realizing what they were all doing. Times like this at least made them happy, after being stuck on an island like this with barely any freedom, but it was great that all of them could still come together like this with one another and laugh.

* * *

After a while, all of them just sat down staring at the beach from their current position on the sand. Of course, in a group of kids like this, the thought of just swimming to the shores of Japan would have crossed their minds. But, one of the older captives informed them that they tried that before and the barrier around Hagun Island not only kept the outside world from sensing them but it, of course, kept them from leaving without permission as long as those bracelets remained on them.

"You know guys," Claire spoke up to all of them. "My mother was among the 72 Pillars, the Belial and don't forget I inherited our clan's [Worthlessness]. So, if I knew about the composition of these bracelets then I could."

"The thought of that did cross my mind after hearing that you were a member of the Belial Clan," Zane replied as he glanced towards Claire though he shook his head much to her confusion. "Though the guy who attempted to remove the bracelet using magic lived nearby me and I saw what happened to him firsthand. The moment that it feels the slightest bit of interference, then the automatic feedback system will activate and kill us. And I don't ever want to witness that again, especially seeing it happen to a close friend."

Hearing him say that caused Claire to glance downwards as she felt as if she could do something for them even if it was just this. Taking note of the expression on her face, Kensei had reached forward placing his hand on top of her head and started to pet her head.

"I know that you want to do something to help us like fighting in the Gehenna Tournament, but ever since those bastards started to let some of their Gehenna Guards into the tournament. Things will only start to get far more dangerous than they already were before," Kensei informed her in a soft tone. "But, don't worry…I promise when the time comes there will be a time when we will need your help. Claire, don't ever think that none of us believes in your potential as a matter a fact, Zane kept telling me that you will have a great part in this plan that we've all come up with for getting out of here."

"He's right, I believe in you just as much as I believe in Kensei."

Alice added as she placed her hand on top of Claire's head directly next to where Kensei's hand was placed.

"I have to agree with Alice-chan and of course ken Ken too," Hisui said. "I can even sense something else starting to awaken inside of it as if were a baby starting to wake up."

Claire didn't want to admit it, but she felt happy after hearing Hisui say that, though she will never admit it.

 _"Does she…,"_ Zane questioned, after thinking about the conversation that he had with Kensei concerning Claire, then he recalled her heritage as a Nekoshou and that was the same conclusion that Kensei came up with. _"Well, she is skilled in using Senjutsu, so it wouldn't be surprising if she knew about that little detail."_

As if knowing what they were thinking, Hisui winked in their direction as if saying, [Our little secret]. After a while, Rui glanced towards Kensei and she was blunt an asked the question that all of them had wondered about him for a while.

"So Kensei-kun, what was your dad like?"

Hearing the bluntness of her question, everyone aside from Kensei glanced at her with a shocked look on all of their faces. Even Hisui who was always so direct and affectionate when it concerned Kensei, stared at her friend/roommate with a shocked look.

"R-Rui-chan don't you think that was a bit blunt?"

"What? It is a bit awkward since everyone is wanting to ask him that question, but no one is saying anything."

Rui said in a matter of fact tone, as she glanced at everyone as it not bothered by their glances.

"Hah…hahahahaha."

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Kensei started letting out a laugh that caused it to lessen as time passed.

"I-Is that why no one was saying anything," Kensei questioned as he continued talking while laughing at the very same time. "If you guys wanted to know that badly you could have just asked me. It's not like I'm trying to hide anything about my family."

Noticing how nonchalant he was being about it, they glanced at once another. It wasn't like neither of didn't know about the fact that it was supposedly his father that had him sent to this island in the first place.

"What kind of person was your dad?"

"If I can talk about him in one word, then it would be serious to a fault," Kensei replied after he finished laughing. "My dad comes from a long line of Samurai and trained in discipline and Bushidō (Way of the Warrior) since he was a child. Though I can never recall him smiling or laughing at all once, he would normally just wear a permanent serious stone face."

Hearing his response caused them to become a bit confused about how he said it.

"What did your mother see in him?"

Rui asked another blunt question revealing that she had no issue with asking him difficult and personal ones of a matter such as that.

"Well, when I asked her if he was always that serious, my mother would just laugh and said that he was a lot like me when he was younger…though, my mom said he has always been stubborn."

"They must have fallen in love at first sight."

Hisui said in a love-struck tone as she stared at Kensei, thinking about how his mother and father met, but what he said next ruined that fantasy.

"No, my grandfather said the two of them tried to kill each the moment that they first met," he had replied in a nonchalant manner causing everyone to stare at him with a confused look. "My mom wasn't always nice and kind as she is…was, she was called the Demon of the Amagiri due to her callousness and swordsmanship. From what I heard mom blamed dad for intervening and killing a demon that she wanted to finish off, then my dad said one thing mom said about, then the two of them started fighting for hours. Both got tired and fell on the ground, then they just began to meet again and again to fight each other. The perfect relationship for two battle maniacs."

"They sounded like great…uh, friends…rivals."

"You could say both, but my mom never really made many friends from either the other Japanese Clan and even among the Amagiri Clan since no one could handle her former callous nature. The only ones who ever talked to her like a normal person were my grandfather, my father, and another woman her age that she met before meeting my dad…or last least not at first my mom never really considered her a friend."

"You never said what your dad's name was."

This time Zane stated to him with Kensei staring at the sea.

"His names Tetsuo Uesugi. And trust me if you guys were to ever meet him, but don't know his name…you will be able to tell that he's my father. My grandfather used to joke that if I were to ever travel back in time and meet him as a teenager, then we could have passed as brothers."

"Uesugi? Tetsuo?"

Hisui mumbled to herself as if she heard that name before around her, but she couldn't remember possibly since it was when she was a lot younger. Though that name still echoed in her head.

"Kensei," this time Abigail spoke up after hearing him talking about his dad and spoke in a tone befitting an older sister looking out for their younger brother. "There's a chance that your father was the person who had you sent here, to begin with, but you don't seem to resent him at all."

Hearing Abigail's response caused everyone to glance at Kensei with a curious look on their face and wondered what he was going to say next.

"My dad is a hard person to understand at times, but I can't recall a single time where he forgotten my birthday or even failed to send me a present. There were times that he invited me to parties with his partners," he started before making an annoyed look. "Even if there was always a fat annoying pig of a human being who…forget that last part. A-Anyway, aside from all of that, my mom has the utmost faith in my father, which is why even if it hurts me, I'll continue to believe in him even if people say I'm an idiot in doing so."

Kensei made an expression that showed his faith in his father and none of them could find any kind of reason to disagree with him as neither of them met him.

"I understand, there is no one who wants to not believe in their parent and so, I won't say anything else."

Abigail replied as she sent him a warm smile that would make anyone having a terrible day brighten up. Though that mood was spoiled as there was a beeping noise that came from their bracelets, then suddenly a holographic display had appeared in front of them.

"Great, who do they have fighting next?"

Zane questioned as he stared at the screen in front of him.

On the screen, it displayed the image of the current field chose, which was an open field near a forested area, in the middle of it stood Jason, the older brother of Mason and wearing a modified battle outfit meant for an Archer. In front of him was a light-haired girl who looked to be a little younger than him and she wore a scared look on her face as if she already knew the results before the match began, but she continued to wear a brave face.

[Now! Today for this match, we have the oldest of our Dynamic Duo, Mason against a new contender of this little tournament of ours, Lisa!] The announcer called out. [But, today we have a special guest with us! The man who's known as the Blind Swordsman and Commander of the Gehenna Guards Hayashi Namikaze!]

Sitting next to the youthful announce in the chair was an elderly male with long white hair tied in the back using a single ribbon and dressed in a single cloak that kept his lower body and clothing hidden; the elderly man also had his eyes closed.

[If you're worried about us having a blind commentator don't worry, our dear Hayashi can follow everything that happens around him using his hearing that had reached a superhuman level. It is also great for their trainer of both Jason and Mason to watch their match.]

[I only trained those two to fulfill my contract with Taro.]

Paaaaaaa! Chill!

A chilling pressure could felt from next to each of them causing them to glance towards its source―it was Kensei who stared at the image of Hayashi on the screen with sharp eyes. An intense light that looked almost like steam coming from off a pot, Hisui recognized it as the concentration of ki seeping out from his body due to him losing control of his anger. Though it wasn't something that she seemed somehow different from normal ki she hasn't sensed this kind of presence from another

Neither of them, despite being close to Kensei had seen him this angry before and all of it was directed solely on Hayashi.

"It's him…!"

Kensei spoke in such a cold and unforgiving tone that it caused even Claire to shutter in fear.

"N-Nii-chan."

Claire reached her hand out a bit hesitantly, placing her hand on his shoulder causing him to snap out of his state of anger and glancing towards them.

"I-I'm sorry about that guys."

Kensei apologized as the ki that leaked out of him returned inside of his body as he calmed down.

Everyone still looked as Kensei despite him somewhat returning to his normal demeanor, but he continued to glare at Hayashi with a look of anger.

* * *

Meanwhile, as they talked, the match had already begun, with the light-haired girl already hiding out inside of the forest carrying a three-pronged spear whose blades gave off a blue-colored light. From her shoulder there was a wound that looked to have been caused by an arrow from Jason causing her to glance around in fear of a next attack may come from, but it would have been worse if she were to have remained in that clearing leaving herself wide open. She continued to focus on her surroundings in case there was a single sound produced by Jason.

Snap!

After hearing a snap coming from a twig from her left, the light-haired girl swiped her spear in that direction, then shooting from the blade was a stream of ice that blew through three trees and there was a shadow that escaped to another tree. This girl's Sacred Gear was an Elemental Sacred Gear named [Glacer Trident], one that lets its user generate and control ice. Landing on another tree was indeed Jason who leaned against the tree with a cocky smirk on his face and crossed both his arms.

[Huh? I didn't expect that a newbie like you would have such a great reaction time. Did someone teach you that?]

Hearing Jason's question caused the light-haired girl to narrow her eyes.

[…stop talking. And just fight!]

She shouted and swiped her trident again launching another barrage of ice attacks aimed at Jason, who began to dodge each of them by jumping from tree to tree. After landing on another tree faster than she could attack, he held his hand out and summoned his golden bow from light. It was Jason's sacred gear called [Staring Gold], just like her's it is an Elemental Sacred Gear that lets him generate gold-colored light to attack his opponent.

Pulling the light bowstring, he generated light arrow and fire off a fast light arrow at the light-haired girl, but she had reacted just in time by swiping her Glacer Trident and forming a wall of ice to block the attack. Though Jason smirked as the light arrow curved in another direction going behind the ice wall and hitting her in the leg.

[Ah!]

She let out a painful cry as she leaned on the ground in pain from the attack, but without touching the light arrow it vanished causing the blood from the wound to leak out. Gritting her teeth, she picked up her trident causing the ice wall to vanish, then directed her next attack at Jason, but she didn't see him again. She couldn't even sense his presence anymore nor did she hear a single noise from him moving.

[Gah!]

The light-haired girl was overcome with several three arrows aimed at her other shoulder, and both her arms forcing her to drop both her Glacer Trident. She held her arms where her wounds were, but after making another attempt at standing up another light arrow pierced her leg forcing her to land forward on the ground. More of her blood started seeping out of her wounds as she continued to move.

"This isn't even a match," Zane stated in a disgusted tone. "He's just toying with her."

"This is just a hunt to him."

Kensei added onto what he said as he narrowed his eyes.

The other girls next to both of them watching the match agreed with their statement, then all of them witnessed as Jason landed on the ground next to the light-haired girl. Jason glanced and noticed that her hand was inching in the direction of her weapon, but he kicked it aside with just enough force for it to be stabbed into the tree that was further away from them. Without remorse, he kicked the girl onto her back forcing her to glance at her with a frightened look on her face.

Stomp!

[Gah!]

The light-haired girl let out a pained cry as Jason stepped on the wound on her leg and directed his next arrow at her heart. She noticing his target and started to fear for her life, but there was a part of her that remained hoping for a method for her to win.

[You know these matches in the Gehenna Tournament can be to the death unless the opponent concedes defeat.]

Jason replied in a cocky tone as he pulled the bowstring of his light arrow, then after biting her lower lip, the light-haired girl spoke up.

[…I admit defeat.]

After hearing those words from her, Jason laughed, then released an arrow just inches from hitting her head.

[Of course. Losers always bow down to the Victors.]

Those were the last words that Jason had said to her as he removed his foot from her as the field that they were in started to vanish. He then started to walk out of the arena in an exit different from the one that the light-haired girl had entered just as some Gehenna Guards started carrying a stretcher for her.

[Wow! That was a brutal match! I wouldn't expect anything less from the oldest of our Dynamic Duo!]

[Yes, the match went as expected. It may sound harsh, but a girl such as herself wouldn't survive in this arena. If she values her life, then she should just quit.]

Hayashi spoke in a tone of apathy showing that he neither cared if the girl had decided to continue fighting in the Gehenna Tournament or not.

* * *

"She'll be arriving at the gate in no time. We have to meet her there and tend to her wounds."

Those were the first words that came out of Claire's mouth as all of them stood up and started to head out of the area in the direction of where the girl met to arrive at. From the injuries that Jason had dealt her and since the people who were bringing her back had no intention of handling her injuries, they knew the light-haired girl could lose too much blood on the way.

"I can heal her minor injuries, but I'll need too much time to heal her open wounds."

"I know a couple of people who can heal injuries such as that," Abigail replied. "I also know that the girl lives in Residential Area C, the same as me."

"I'll head over there, it'll be quicker if I run," Kensei replied as he glanced at Hisui, then he directed his attention at Claire. "Claire, I'll have to take…."

"I know, this is an emergency and we don't have time to deal with a petty rivalry."

Getting her permission, Kensei picked up Hisui who blushed a certain shade of red, but she recovered once she thought about their current situation. He charged forward at high-speeds with Hisui in his arms at greater than that of normal humans and covering a great distance in a little amount of time. Before either of them knew it, they arrived at the entrance where the light-haired girl had been placed on the ground as several other younger and older kids starting to gather around her.

"Okay, we'll be there in a…."

Swift! At the same time that Kensei who was carrying Hisui with him, there was another girl who had caught up with him in seconds not only matching his speed; but she caught up with Kensei without her presence known to either of them. And at around the same time, both of them stopped with their feet skidding against the dirt ground. After stopping himself from running, Kensei could tell that the girl who caught up with him had light brown hair and green-colored eyes.

The light brown-haired girl had made it to the light-haired girl first before Kensei or Hisui could reach her.

"Layla," the light brown-haired girl had called out her name as she made it to her. "Tch, it looks as she is still not conscious yet due to blood loss. I won't be able to get Layla to Iris in time and moving her will only make things much worse."

The girl mumbled to herself as she held the light-blue haired girl now named Layla in her arms, then Hisui arrived in front of the two of them with a worried look.

"Let me help her."

Hisui offered to cause the light brown-haired girl to stare at her with a calculative look, but after realizing that she had no ill intent, she allowed Hisui to come forward and use her Senjutsu healing technique.

Hisui held her hands together and placed it on Layla's chest, then covered her body in a shallow light from her Senjutsu and all her bleeding injuries started to slow down.

"This isn't good, I can stop her injuries, but I can heal them like this," Hisui clicked her tongue, but then she came up with an idea. "Ken Ken, can you come here for a second? I need your help."

"Sure, I'll help if I can," Kensei replied as he knelt next to Hisui.

"I need you to place your hand on top of mind, then I need you to release your ki," Hisui started before glancing at him. "I don't know what your relationship with that guy named Hayashi, but I need you to release the same level of ki that you did just before watching that match. I'm sorry, but can you…."

"I got it. I can never forgive nor forget what that guy did."

Kensei replied as he clenched Hisui's hand, then closed his eyes as if to relive the events of his first meeting with Hayashi Namikaze. As those memories started replaying in his mind, his grip on Hisui's hand started tightening causing her to winch from the pressure. And the same as before, a great concentration of ki started seeping out of his body from him losing control of his emotions. Using his ki as an aid, Hisui started to quicken the healing of her Senjutsu and Layla's wounds started healing.

"…nnnn."

Layla let out a noise as she started opening her eyes, the first thing that she saw was the brown-haired girl who stood next to both Hisui and Kensei as they healed her.

"Sis…."

Those were the first words that Layla said as she glanced at the girl she referred to as "Sis".

"…I'm glad to see that you're alright."

This "Sis" replied as she placed her hand on top of her head.

As soon as she woke up arriving on the scene was Zane, Alice, Claire, Rui, and Abigail who started to approach the four of them with a worried look.

"That's good we made it on time," Abigail let out a sigh of relief, then glance towards Layla's "Sis" before letting a smile grace her face. "Ah, Maria. I didn't think that she was affiliated with you and your group."

The brown-haired girl now named Maria glanced towards Abigail and stood up.

"Oh, I see that these people are with you."

"No no no, we are just friends who see one another from time to time," Abigail replied. "This is Kensei Amagiri, Alice Evangelista, and Claire Belial from Residential Area A who lives together. This is Zane Wayland from the same area. And the cute Neko is named Hisui and this adorable Tanuki is named Rui."

"Since they…well, you introduced them," Maria replied as she stood up and bowed her head more respectfully. "My name is Maria Lancelot, the descendant of Sir Lancelot."

Maria introduced herself as the descendant of one of the Knights of the Round Table who was later declared the Strongest among the other Knights. Alice and Abigail knew most about the Legend of the Round Table since she lived near the same faction where they originated, but even people who lived in Japan and Northern Europe had heard about those stories of Sir Lancelot. Though before either of them could ask any more question, Maria took Layla in her arms since her injuries weren't fully healed yet.

"I thank you for tending to Layla's injuries," Maria said in a gracious tone. "I will take her home and have a friend of mine to finish her treatment. Though I am in both of your debt and I plan on paying it back shortly."

After saying those words, Maria started to walk in the direction of where their residence was, but Abigail stopped her by asking a question.

"Maria, if I may ask. If you were placed in the same arena as Jason what will you do?"

There was a sudden silence as if the area could sense a tense presence radiating from Maria's body, then Maria faced Abigail and gave her response.

"I'll crush him," she replied. "Though, if someone else happens to do it, then I guess that would be fine as well."

Maria then continued to head in the direction of their home causing Abigail to nod her head in agreement.

"That sounds just like Maria, like Kensei, she sees herself as a protector of those important to her. She follows the Code of Chivalry to the letter."

Abigail smiled as she watched Maria heading off at high-speeds, but she then turned towards Hisui and Kensei.

"I am happy that the two of you helped her friend get better. I don't think that we need to worry anymore."

"Yes, I can also tell that girl had a couple of tricks up her sleeve."

Hisui replied, but Kensei could tell that she was holding onto her hand as if she felt residual pain from when he held her hand too hard causing him to stare at her in worry.

"I'm sorry about that Hisui. I didn't mean to grip your hand that hard."

"It's alright Ken Ken," Hisui replied as she used Senjutsu to remove the pain that remained in her hand. "I'm the one who told you to relive whatever painful memory that guy did to you."

After hearing Hisui say that, Kensei glanced away from her with a sad look, but he later felt someone grabbing onto his hand. Kensei turned and noticed that it was Claire who stared at him with a worried look.

"Nii-chan, I don't want to pry, but what did he do to you that was so bad?"

Claire asked him still with a look of worry on her face but stopped after Kensei placed a hand on top of her head with a soft smile on his face, though she could tell that there was still an incredible pain in his eyes.

"I did promise that I wouldn't keep any secrets from you guys, especially since you guys told me so much about your pasts," Kensei let out a calming breath before glancing towards them all. "Moment after I arrived here on Hagun Island and after having this damn bracelet attached to me in another building. My mom had found away on this island and came to get me out of here cutting down Gehenna Guards without hesitation, then she met that guy…Hayashi Namikaze. The two of them fought with my mom gaining the upper hand and prepared to kill him, but at the same time, one of those Old Devil bastards used me to catch her off guard…and Hayashi had stabbed her from behind using his sword. He killed my mom and those bastards used me to do to it."

* * *

 ** **A/N: And there goes the fourth chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, in this chapter there was a little intro the certain parts of Hagun Island. First, we got to see the result of Alice's treatment from Hisui. Then, we got to see what Hisui can do in a fight against various Oni, using both Senjutsu and Youjutsu. Later, we got insight in another location on Hagun Island named Residential Area C where there are several older teens where they are care of several children living there and even built a park where all of them can play. There was even some information about Kensei's father who supposedly sent him there in the first place. I wonder where that would lead into the future. We also got introduced to a couple more characters such as Abigail, Layla, and Maria.****

 **Next, there was another match with Jason fighting against a girl named Layla who wields an Elemental-Type Sacred Gear named [Glacer Trident] and lost due to Jason's brutal tactics. We also got introduced to the Commander of the Gehenna Guards named Hayashi Namikaze, and the chapter ends with Kensei telling everyone that Hayashi killed his mother.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **PS: I added a couple of more original characters that will appear in the future: one of them being from a fan suggestion named Lu Lingqi, Sarah and Minako. Also for those who're wondering, Kunou will be older than in the canon.** **Also, I was thinking about adding Misla Bael to the harem and wanted someone's opinion including Koneko and Kuroka.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah,** **Minako** **. (WIP)**


	5. The Hunter and Hunted

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let us answer some reviews:**

 **Guest: I'm still thinking about it.**

 **Sonic: Thanks. I'm happy to hear that.**

 **Hellspam: Yep, Hisui has proven that she is a capable opponent from experience. I know, I can't wait to get into the current timeline of the canon though that will take a while. Considering who she is a descendant of it wouldn't be far fetched. That sounds like Qrow from RWBY. I thought about the idea that you gave of having a descendant of Mordred, but I already had someone named Mordred in The Magic Knight whose going through something similar. Just like Lu Lingqi, considering whose she descendant from to, she'll be an amazing combatant.**

 **Guest 2: That sounds like a hilarious idea, I'll think about it. Though, I already have an idea of how she is going to make her appearance.**

* * *

 **The Hunter and Hunted**

It has been at least two weeks since Kensei told everyone about the incident that killed his mother, including the involvement of the gehenna guard Commander along with Jason defeating Layla. In that time, there has been a couple of more matches where Jason had come out the winner and each of the matches ended with him forcing his opponent to concede defeat after hunting them down and shooting them with several light arrows and some loss due to blood loss. Maria who swore that she would crush him the first chance that she got, but she hadn't got that chance despite the time that passed.

Maria did have a couple of matches that she had against different opponents, both other humans and monsters displaying fully what she can do in a fight. Through watching those matches, Kensei couldn't help but admit that at least in terms of strength and speed that Maria was better compared to himself. Though since the first moment that the two of them met, Kensei knew that she was holding something back. He along with Alice and Rui had several matches since that time and won all of them with no injuries at all.

Location in the middle of Paradise, the capital of Hagun Island was Paradise Tower, where Taro does important business with all of the Old Devils and High-Class Devils that he formed ties the moment he formed the Gehenna Tournament. On the very top floor of Paradise Tower, inside of an extravagantly built office that gave him a clear view of the entire island and ocean.

Inside his office, there was a bar containing glasses filled with imported wine and alcohol meant for himself and his older visitors, three black leather couches and a large coffee table meant for his guests.

Taro himself sat behind his mahogany desk in his black leather chair wearing a serene expression on his face as he stared at the match occurring on the monitor in front of him. Despite the injuries that both of them were giving the other, he continued to smile at it all as if finding it amusing.

"You all can fight all you'd like if you believe that it would mean that you survive. Fight. Fight. Fight, all you'd like. Though in the end, I will still get what I want," Taro replied in a calm tone. "Money is truly what rules the Human World and even the Supernatural World. And after all this time and effort, I finally got to where I want to be."

Knock Knock Knock

"Hmm. Oh, that must be my loyal allies."

Once Taro heard the door knocking, he pressed a button on the monitor, which turned into a live video feed from the camera outside of his office. On the monitor, it showed the image of three Old Devils dressed in their upper-class clothing showing their status. Seeing who it was, Taro pressed another button on the monitor and unlocked the door from where he was sitting, also causing the door to open on its own. These small number of Old Devils were just a small group who funded Taro's little project for their enjoyment and benefit. And in the end, the results were greater than they believed possible.

"It has been a long time, Aoyama-dono," the first old devil spoke up.

"Every time I see this office, I believe this is a lot similar to the ones in the Underworld."

"Welcome," Taro replied gleefully that one would usually see from a hyperactive child. "Come in my friends. Now, would either of you like a drink? Don't worry everything in my office is specially imported."

"That would be great."

Hearing his offer, the second Old Devil among them went to the bar and poured himself a drink from one of the imported wine bottle using a wine glass. He also picked up three more wine glasses including the wine bottle that he picked up from the bar. Everyone in the office took a seat on the expensive leather couches. Taro himself had picked up the bottle of wine from the bar and poured himself a drink. Taro lounged back in his seat and took a sip from the wine glass relaxing with the colleagues that he made.

"Aoyama-dono, I can see that you are handling your business with the utmost proficiency. To be honest we were not expecting that there would be a human of your caliber who would handle this."

"Well, there rarities even among the weakest species among the supernatural world," Taro wasn't hesitant at all to refer to his species in such a manner as he continued to drink from his wine glass. "I have my talents but even I couldn't have gotten this far if it wasn't for all of your assistance. Your knowledge combined with all the devils magic, techniques, and technologies that you gave to me as an investment in all of this. You even granted me the techniques that resulted in the creation of the Rating Game."

Taro had given and sold a lot of belongings to these Old Devils to build up Hagun Island to this point, and it resulted in what the Gehenna Tournament had become now. From the success of the tournament, he earned enough money for him and even his descendants to live extravagant lives for generations, though his choice resulted in his family into a lifetime of bankruptcy and debt, resulting in a lot of them committing suicide from all of the depts, while others whereabouts were unknown.

"Don't mention it, we're receiving benefits from the money made from both the Rating Games and your Gehenna Tournament," another Old Devil replied in a tone that showed their greed. "At first, I was hesitant when that Brat Ajuka created the Evil Pieces along with many others, though buying the right to the Rating Game result in a lot of us gaining a lot of profit. And with the Hagun Island, we receive a lot of potential peerage members for our players and other High-Class Devils seeking to participate. And with a simple messing with their memories they receive the benefit of losing their memories on Hagun Island."

"So for us, it is a win-win situation."

"Speaking of which, Aoyama-dono. Would you be interested in selling either that Annihilation Maker user or that Amagiri Brat?"

The third old devil questioned.

"Hmm."

Taro thought about the deal with a somewhat more serious look on his face.

"Of course, I will grant you with more information or anything that you desire. One of the Four High-Tier Longinus that has the potential to destroy the world would be an excellent asset. Or even the last of the Amagiri Clan, that specific clan had caused some serious trouble for some devils who arrived in Japan before in the distant past."

"…the offer does sound too sweet to pass up," Taro said before staring at them. "Though, after having found that Alice girl alone and brought her on this island, I found out that some members of Grigori were already investing the village that she lived in as a possible location of her Longinus. Also concerning that Brat Kensei, I heard that his clan had shared some kind of deep ties with the Shinto Gods more so than those guys from the Five Principal Clans…though to what degree I'm not sure. If either of them were to suddenly appear out of nowhere inside of the Underworld, then there could potentially be some incident from both sides."

The Old Devils thought about his reasoning and couldn't disagree with him. Though, that didn't stop the thoughts of having either Longinus or the survivor of such a renowned clan on their side to use for their gain.

"I can see what you mean, then I'll forget about it."

"Though, if you want that devil hybrid who lives with them, then I guess that could work out."

These Old Devils freely showed the distaste that they even held towards those who were apart of their pillar before the start of the Great War between Heaven and Grigori. Though what they said was true after the end of the Great War, both sides lost a large portion of their numbers resulting in some of their High-Class Households going extinct, while others had to rely on mating with humans to maintain their numbers resulting in Devils with human heritages instead of being Pure-Bloods.

There were even pure-blood devils who lost portions of their resources and authority, as a result of incidents in the Great War causing them to become mistreated by other households among the remaining Seven-Two Pillars.

"Hmm? Devil hybrid," the first Old Devil spoke in a disgusted tone. "It must be one of those vile survivors from the remaining Seventy-Two Pillars. Tch, mating with humans is just a disgusting manner for surviving. What is their name?"

"How harsh. I believe she is a gray-haired girl named Claire, I don't know what clan she is from though since she isn't registered in the Gehenna Tournament."

A combination of the name "Claire" and "gray hair" caused something to click in their heads, bringing up a certain incident that had occurred in a certain territory in Japan.

"Claire," the first Old Devil's eyes narrowed as it continued to ring in his head like a name that he was incapable of recalling. Wanting some answers to his suspensions, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device and placed it on the table in front of Taro. "Aoyama-dono, I'm about to show you an image and I wanted to ask if that girl looks like the person in this photo."

"Ah, sure."

Taro agreed with the old devil, though he looked and noticed the other devils who had made the same suspicious look on their faces. Taro felt almost left out as he didn't know why either of them was being so quiet about. Once the first old devil turned on the device, it had displayed the holographic image of a young man in his late to early twenties with gray-colored hair and matching eyes, a graceful face dressed in some kind of unique red vestment that revealed his trained muscular figure.

This was the image of Diehauser Belial, the current Head of the Belial Household and the undisputed champion of the Rating Games. After seeing this image, Taro stared at him with a look of realization.

"Ah! That's Diehauser Belial. Yes, he and that girl look strikingly similar to one another."

[….]

All five of the old devils remained silent as the news made it to them, it caused their eyes to narrow considerably with a dark aura radiating from their bodies. Taro looked at all of them with a confused look on his face.

"Did I something that upset you all?"

"No, you hadn't done anything to upset us. There is just a simple loose end that we didn't realize existed and it'll cause some issues shortly if it isn't removed."

"Taro if you could give a while to talk amongst ourselves about that deal."

"Sure, I don't mind."

Hearing his response, the five old devils stood up from their seats and proceeded to head out from the front door of the office. Once all of them left out of his office, Taro went back to his desk to figure out who would be next to fight in the tournament.

* * *

In the location where the captives on Hagun Island work on the farming food, Claire including various other children were working using the equipment granted to them. It was one of the days where she had worked instead of remaining at home. And as always, they were kept under strict guard of the armed gehenna guards. A number of them were dressed in their white full-bodied armored suits mixed with black and armed with guns or bladed weapons just in case any of them started to attack.

"Why is it that we always get stuck watching these brats work on these farms," one of the gehenna guards had asked another as he rested his gun on his shoulder. "I'd rather work in the tournament where the real action is."

"You know that job is for the top-class mercenaries, little grunts like us don't even register on their radar," another gehenna guard replied. "Though, this is an easy job. Just watch a bunch of brats work on the fields."

"I don't even know why Taro hired us, none of these kids are going to do anything, while those bracelets on their wrist. I mean they should remember what happened to the last brat who resisted us."

While the gehenna guardsmen talked amongst themselves, the children who continued working looked down as they used their farming hoe to dig off the ground so that the seeds can be planted into the ground. Though a girl who stood next to Claire noticed that she looked a bit paler than she normally was.

"Claire are you alright?"

"…huh," she took a little while longer to answer than normal. "…I'm alright, I'm just a little lightheaded that's all."

Claire replied with a somewhat weak smiling causing the girl next to her to worry even more.

The girl already knew that Claire was a half-devil and half-human, as such her physical abilities were higher than that of other children her age and have proven to be more energetic than she was now. Claire continued working on digging up the soil using her farming equipment, though as soon as she raised it into their air again to dig it into the ground Claire stopped for a moment.

"…."

Her vision started to blur and her body started feeling as if it began to up all of a sudden.

Drop! Fall!

Claire dropped her farming equipment and fell to the side with her eyes started to close, though before she fell on the ground, the girl next to her reacted and caught her before she fell. Seeing that Claire had fallen over all of the working kids stopped and glanced in the direction of the girl trying to tend to Claire who started breathing heavily.

"Claire are you alright?"

"Is she okay?"

"What happened?"

Seeing the commotion, the gehenna guards stood up straight with the more aggressive guard prepping his gun as if he were itching for some action and headed in the direction of the kids who gathered around a passed out Claire. The aggressive gehenna guardsmen stomped over with his gun in hand.

"What's going on?!"

"She passed out."

The little girl answered as she placed her hand on Claire's forehead, noticing that she started becoming hotter by the moment for whatever reason.

"Huh? Is this some kind of childish trick to get out of work?"

The aggressive gehenna guard went forward and without discretion or concern for Claire's well-being, he picked up her by her collar out of the grasps of the girl who held onto her.

"H-Hey…."

"Shut up," the grumpy gehenna guard shouted causing the girl to become silent. "Hey, brat are you faking?!"

The gehenna guard started to shake Claire to see if she were just faking being unconscious just to get out of her job, though she didn't move in the slightest and her arms remained limp. Her breathes started becoming far more labored as sweat started to come off her forehead. Despite seeing that Claire wasn't faking being ill, the gehenna guard recklessly threw her in the direction of the girl, while clicking his tongue.

"*Seriously, now we have to deal with this," the calmer gehenna guard had placed his hand on his head and let out a long sigh. "Just that drags her back to wherever she lives and then come back."

Listening to what the gehenna guard said, the girl placed Claire's arm around her and as best as she could, she started headed in the direction of Residential Area A, where Kensei and the others lived.

* * *

Inside of Zane's house where he lived all by himself, sitting down on the couch was Kensei and Alice, both who were called over by the resident himself. Zane who came out of his 'bedroom' walked towards them in a bit of a rush, then stopped in front of them.

"I'm sorry that it took a while, but I…," he said out loud in an excited tone, but stopped after noticing something a little weird. "Why is Alice leaning on you?"

It was just as Zane said, Alice was leaning against Kensei's shoulder with her usual almost blank expression on her face, while Kensei stared back at his friend with a shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know, she just leaned on my shoulder saying, 'I see Claire doing this all the time and wanted to see how it felt'," Kensei replied.

"I can see what Claire means, it feels comforting like this."

Alice replied with a somewhat cheerful look on her face.

For a while, Zane stared at Alice with a somewhat strange look on his face, but shook it off and continued to what he wanted to talk to them about.

"Okay, now onto what I wanted to talk to you guys about. And I'll talk to both Rui and Hisui about it later."

"What's this about?"

Kensei questioned wanting to know what Zane was getting all excited about.

"I think that I found out how to get off this island."

Hearing his response caused Kensei and even Alice to stare at him with a shocked look on their face, while also having a ray of hope to shine in their eyes.

"Are you serious?"

Alice surprisingly was the person to speak up, instead of Kensei being the person to speak up and even got off of his shoulder and sat up. Seeing this caused Zane to become a bit stumped as neither of them had ever seen her this excited before. From what Alice told them about herself, she did have a family who lived in a village with her parents, but Alice felt as if neither of them wanted to see her again considering the incident that happened. Alice still had the hope that she could at least still see her parents again.

"Yea, my "Source," told me that the ring that is on Taro's finger can't activate all of the collars on us without being either destroyed or overheated in the process. It has to be linked to a radio tower big enough that its signal can extend to everyone on Hagun Island. The ring is voice-activated, so it Taro for was to say, for example, 'Chains of Gehenna Bind, Zane Wayland' then his ring will send the signal to that tower and my collar would receive it and activate."

"So, it's like a Cellphone Tower and Cellphone."

Kensei who didn't know that much about technical things since he lived an almost old-fashioned lifestyle inside of the Amagiri Clan like most, though he did at least know about how cell phones worked. After Zane heard him, he nodded his head in agreement though Kensei's understanding was something that he would expect.

"So, you're saying if you find and bust that tower then…."

"All of the Gehenna Collars will stop working."

Zane answered his question causing Kensei and Alice to feel as if they could pull this off in the end, and be able to leave Hagun Island. However, it wasn't as if any of them could do it on their own, as even with all three of them; even if they got help from Hisui and Rui, they needed more people to assist in escaping.

"Alright, all we need to do is find out where that tower is located."

"I already have an idea as to where it is…."

Open!

Suddenly, the door opened wide causing the three inside of the room to jump up from surprise.

"…you know, you could have just…," Zane said in a stunned tone.

"I'm sorry, but is Kensei Amagiri and Alice Evangelista here."

At the door, it showed the girl who was working on the farm holding onto Claire on her shoulder who continued to sweat to where her entire shirt looked almost drenched. Seeing her like that felt almost as if the world had slowed down for both Kensei and Alice.

"Claire!"

Kensei ran over taking Claire from off of the girl's hands and holding her in his arms as if she were a baby being cradled. He could feel her temperature and it felt as if she had a fever based off feeling her skin alone.

"Hah…hah...hah…N-Nii-chan."

Claire spoke to him in labored breaths as if she were in pain.

"I'm right here, Claire."

"I…I….I feel hot…my chest feels…like it's on fire…."

"What happened," Alice questioned the girl in a more serious tone.

"I don't know. One second, she was working on digging up the ground and the next second, she is falling on the ground and burning up. I'm sorry, but I have to get back to work before those guys come for me."

The girl politely bowed her head and left. Hearing her response, Zane walked forward placing his right hand on Claire's forehead and he immediately felt an irregular sensation on his hand causing him to narrow his eyes out of suspension.

"This isn't a normal fever," Zane said as he glanced at his best friend. "Kensei place Claire on that couch. She can stay there until she gets better."

Following his instruction, Kensei had picked up Claire and placed her on the couch where he and Alice had just been sitting beforehand. After placing her on the couch, he reached his hand out and pressed it on her forehead, he immediately felt the heat from off of her forehead. Her temperature felt as if it were rising by the second and it caused him to grimace out of concern.

"Seriously what caused this, I've never anyone who had never had a fever this bad."

"I know there are some devil illnesses out there, but I don't think that this is it," Zane said as he started to ponder what it could be before widening his eyes out of shock. "What Kensei, I think that this could be…."

Beep Beep

Just as Zane was preparing to tell him something, Kensei's bracelet started beeping signaling that it was his turn to fight in the Gehenna Tournament. After hearing that signal, he clicked his tongue out of annoyance due to the worst timing that he could have occurred.

"Seriously, these guys have the worst timing possible?"

"Kensei, I know that you're worried about Claire, but…."

"Yea, I know."

Both Kensei and Zane knew what would happen if no one arrived at the time that their bracelet signaled for them to prepare for their next match. Though he stared down at Claire as she remained to lie their still breathing in a manner that seemed almost as if she were in pain. As soon as Kensei was prepared to stand up to leave, Claire reached her hand out and grasped his hand. He couldn't tell if this was a conscious or subconscious reaction.

Claire opened her eyes in a second and directed her attention to Kensei as if she were afraid of something. Before he knew it, Alice had stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Kensei and leaning her head on his back. Both of these girls were important to him, one of them lost those important to them as a result of something that she was born with and the others didn't know if those important to her were still alive.

Kensei reached his hand out placing it where Alice had her hand and smiled.

"I'll be back, Claire. Alice."

He spoke in a reassuring tone causing Claire to let go of his hand, but that was a line that she has heard before and it was a person who she trusted as much as Kensei before watching them walk away. It was her father, Masaomi Yaegaki, an Exorcist who fell in love with her mother, Cleria Belial, the latter left Clare with her mother's queen to help her mother. Meaning the last thing that she ever saw was her father's back. Kensei leaned forward and kissed Claire on her forehead causing her to somehow feel a bit more comfortable. After seeing him starting to stand up, Alice removed her arms from around him and said.

"I'll remain here with Claire until you come back," Alice said with a smile forming on her face.

"I'm going to go and win this fight," he declared with a confident smile before leaning forward and kissed Alice on her cheek causing her to blush a bit from the contact. "Call Hisui and Rui over again, I'm sure Hisui will already know what's going on with her."

"Alright, good luck, Kensei."

Zane said as he held his fist and the two of them fist-bumped with a smirk on their face.

"I'll take whoever I'm just again down just like the others."

Kensei replied as he started heading out the door, but as soon as Claire turned in his direction. It was the same as with her father, Claire stared at his back until he walked out of the door and that caused her had an ominous premonition.

* * *

After leaving from Zane's home in Residential Area A, Kensei made it to the preparation room where those who fought in the Gehenna Tournament fight prepared and got dressed. Once he finished prepping up, however this time instead of having a double-edged sword, Kensei wore a single-edged katana on his side like a samurai who was heading into battle. Stepping into the light, he was almost overcome by the cheers coming from the crowd, but he ignored them and made it into the middle of the ring.

Kensei remained standing in the ring until his opponent arrived there in the ring with him. And before he knew it, the door in front of him opened revealing a familiar silhouette. As soon that that individual stepped into the light, Kensei narrowed his eyes as crowed let out a thunderous roar.

[What an amazing match up. On one side of the arena, we have Kensei Amagiri, the Last Amagiri, a combatant who has never lost a single fight since starting his fight in the Gehenna Tournament. And on the other side, we have Jason, the Golden Archer, one of the youngest gehenna guard who never lost his target escape his sights and destroyed the pride of all his opponents.]

It was as the arbiter said, Jason stepped onto the arena wearing his modified battle outfit wearing a cocky smirk on his face as he stared at Kensei. Unlike Kensei who ignored the attention of the crowd, Jason waved both of his hands around in a cheerful manner causing the crowd to get louder and louder by the moment. After stepping into the ring, Jason glanced towards Kensei with a smirk on his face, while placing one of his hand on his hip.

"Kensei Amagiri, right," Jason asked even though he already knew the answer causing Kensei to remain silent. "I can say that you're one of the people that I was looking forward to fighting the most."

"Really? And why?"

Kensei questioned as he narrowed his eyes towards Jason.

"So, I can turn that confident look that you always wear on your face…into fear."

"Good luck with that. I haven't found anyone that I'm afraid of yet."

Both Kensei and Zane locked eyes with one another as the area around them started to shift until the location all around them turned into a deep forest filled with trees that would make it perfect for Jason to snipe him.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I'll be heading out into the forest."

"Look, I may have been born," Kensei said as he readied his katana and placed his hand on its hilt.

Swift!

Kensei vanished from his spot and covered the distance between him and Jason in a matter of seconds, and he had stood in a stance where his hand was prepared to draw his sword out from its hilt.

"…but, it doesn't yesterday!"

"I didn't think so."

Jason held his hand out at the same moment that Kensei was prepared to draw out his sword, there was a bright golden light, but Kensei continued with his attack. Forming in Jason's hand was a small hand-sized bow, then he expertly moved his fingers pulling the light string back and fired off a light arrow and fired it off at close-range. As the arrow flew towards Kensei, he reached to it and shifted the position of his katana like an Iaijutsu practitioner and sliced the arrow in half, then sheathed his katana again.

Using that small chance, Jason moved as fast as Kensei jumping into the air, then summoned a full-sized bow in his hand and a matter of seconds fired off a barrage of arrows. In response to that assault, Kensei unsheathed his katana again and started cutting each of the arrows letting the others pass by him since the rest were used as just a distraction. Though it was just enough to get away from Kensei and hid deep inside of the forest waiting for Kensei to arrive in his favorite territory so that he can bombard him with arrows.

"I have to apologize to Maria later," Kensei said as he tightened his grip on his katana and started to head inside of the forest. "Since it looks like I'll have to beat you for her."

Without many options but waiting for Jason to come back out, Kensei headed inside of the forest despite knowing that he could be pelted with arrows. He headed inside of the forest with his hand still on the hilt of his katana just in case of a surprise assault from Jason. As that was a typical pattern for this archer. Kensei continued walking in the forest focusing his ki to sharp his normal senses.

"Are you getting bored, Kensei Amagiri?"

"I'm getting tired of hearing your voice. Either do something or come out here and let me hit you."

"Alright then."

Just then, Kensei heard something coming from his behind him, then unsheathing his sword, he had sliced a light arrow in half. However, it wasn't the only arrow coming at him, four arrows were coming at him for him at different intervals. Instead of dodging the other three, he instead split the second arrows closer to him in half, then ducked letting the other two arrows collide into one another.

"I almost forget that he can control the direction of those things. There's no telling where he could be unless―"

Kensei took a stance as if he were preparing to draw out his sword again, then focused his ki into his blade, while it remained sheathed.

"Amagiri-ryū: Zantetsuken!"

In a single moment, Kensei unsheathed his sword, while turning his body around in a 360-degree angle releasing a circular slash that extended outwards cutting down each of the three that was around him. After sheathing his katana again, he noticed that all the trees in at least a 4 km radius had been cut down. Kensei looked around to see if Jason had come down from one of the trees.

However, once Kensei did that, it was revealed that it wasn't Jason who fired off their four arrows at him. Instead, it was four human-like beings wielding bows in their hands, but what caught his attention most was that all of the creatures were shimmering with a golden light.

[I guess that you found my Golden Squadron using that vulgar method of your clan.] Hearing that Kensei clicked his tongue at the slander against his clan and noticed that Jason's voice was coming from one of them. [You and a lot of people believed that I could just use my Staring Gold to just create light bows and arrows. …Foolishness. Utter foolishness. I can also use my sacred gear to create weapons and even creatures of light who can fight on my behalf. Letting me watch from a distance, while my squadron annihilates my opponent.]

After saying that, more and more of the golden squadron started coming out from behind all of the trees that remained standing holding different arrows and other weapons in their hands. Once he glanced all around him, while remaining on alert for an attack, Kensei counted almost thirty of them.

[So, this fight isn't one on one. It is thirty-one against one!]

Jason declared causing his voice to echo across the entire area, it was in a disgusting tone, but it had caused the entire crowd to let out a loud cheer again. It was to be expected, these were the kinds of people who didn't like a fight that included honor or fair play. What stirred a number of them the most was watching a one-sided battle.

[What an amazing display! Our Golden Archer showed exactly why he and his brother were both chosen to become among the Gehenna Guard! How will the Last Amagiri handle a matchup against thirty-one archers all at one?!]

* * *

Inside Zane's home, he and the others started at the holographic screen as all of the thirty archers aimed their arrows at Kensei.

"I didn't think that he would be this good at using his sacred gear," Rui spoke out in a concerned tone.

"That's what one would expect from gehenna guards who receives special training after being brought into their ranks and even being able to come and go as you wish from the Human World and back," Zane replied. "For us remaining in this closed environment is the same as a bird kept inside of a cage without and being able to spread your wings."

Neither of them could disagree with what Zane had said as it was true, if someone is kept in confinement then no one can truly bring out what they can truly do unless being allowed actual freedom to explore it. As he thought of that, Hisui held her hand on top of Claire's head, who remained sleeping with a more peaceful look on her face, but her temperature was still up higher than normal. Alice remained next to Claire holding onto her hand, as Hisui brushed aside a strand of her hair.

"She's alright for now," Hisui said in a relieved tone. "You guys were right, her fever was a lot higher than normal even supernatural illnesses don't get this bad this quick without some cause."

"Thanks for this Hisui."

"No problem, even though we argue a lot…well, Claire-chan argues, I don't have anything against her," Hisui had replied to Alice thanking her. "We're just two girls in love with the same guy."

Hisui stated that last part with a warming smile as she continued to stare at Claire who remained sleeping without being bothered by anything.

"Hisui was it what we thought it was?"

Zane questioned without turning to face her, as his eyes were still glued on the projection screen with Kensei in the same position holding onto his katana in a prepared stance.

"Yea, it is what we thought that it was. She didn't come down with some kind of illness, this was just the result of her of our little Claire-chan getting used to that "special thing" inside of her this is starting…or at least attempting to awaken. You could say that this was just an allergic reaction, but she got over it a lot quicker than I thought. I don't know when she'll be waking up though."

"That's good. At least we got some good news here."

"So, how is Kensei-kun doing?"

Rui questioned.

"I can tell that he is outnumbered by those archers and Jason, this is the most dangerous situation that Kensei has ever been in during this tournament…I don't know what he has fought before coming here. Though based off of what I can surmise, if Kensei can at least get into close range with Jason, then he could still win this. …huh?"

"What happened?"

Alice questioned causing Zane to let out a somewhat nervous laugh.

"That confirms it, Kensei is about as weird as you are Alice."

Hearing his response caused Alice to stare at him with an odd look on her face, but everyone inside of the living room has realized what it was after staring at the screen.

"Yea, I thought that was the real Ken Ken."

Hisui replied as she laughed after looking at the screen with everyone in the room silently agreeing with her.

* * *

Kensei stood in the epicenter of the many trees that he had cut down with his "Zantetsuken", while he was being surrounded by the thirty Golden Squadron. Jason hid at the top of the largest tree inside the forest without Kensei being aware of his location, though, despite this, he was aware of what was happened around him due to being linked to his Golden Squadron and noticed something that caused his eyes to narrow.

"What the hell is wrong with you," Jason spoke to him using one of his golden squad members as a medium, his tone had displayed his annoyance at the situation. "Why're you smiling like that?!"

Jason was correct, Kensei smiled with a confident expression despite all the odds stacked against him and even as the Golden Squadron pointed their weapons at him; their bows threatening to fire off their arrows at once all at once. After Kensei noticed that what Jason told him was correct, he placed his free hand over his face, then he let out a slight laugh. Even Kensei himself didn't have a rational reason as to why he was smiling in such a manner in spite of the dangerous situation, but he did have one that was completely irrational.

"I am my parent's kid. I don't know why, but I can feel something inside of me starting to stir and boil out of excitement," Kensei replied as he took several practice swings using his katana as his ki started leaking out. "In a fight like this, I feel that I can stretch my legs for once."

Kensei started to stretch his legs in a manner that looked as if he were preparing to go out on a jog.

[Tch. Don't get cocky, you bastard!] Jason said out using one of his Golden Squadron as a medium, but Kensei can tell that he was getting to him. [I don't think that Taro will be too concerned if I put you on the brink of death! Fire! Tear him to pieces!]

Following the order of their leader, the Golden Squadron armed with arrows had fired off their light arrows aiming Kensei who remained in his position. As if knowing the exact moment that they would fire off their arrows at him, he started to shift his position and he pressed his back foot into the ground causing the dirt to be dug up.

Fire! All the light arrows were aimed at Kensei from all sides, though neither of the light arrows made contact as he seemingly vanished from sight.

[What the….]

Using another Golden Archer as a medium, Jason could see that Kensei was running low on the ground dodging all of the light arrows flying at him from all sides. Instead of running in a low position, he just took one big leap at his opponent making it seem as if he were flying just centimeter from off the ground. Kensei continued to move in this manner until making it towards a group of tree golden archers who had already fired off their arrows.

-Kensei if you ever find yourself fighting against an opponent wielding a bow, then remember that at most times, they are at their weakest when loading another arrow.

He remembers the words from his mother as if he were reading them from a book.

Kensei diagonally slashed his sword starting at a downwards position, slicing the three golden archers in a single go. A group of six golden beings was behind him with weapons such as staves, spears, and lances.

-If you are fighting against a group of fighters wielding polearm weapons that has a definite attack range, then get yourself from their range.

This time, Kensei jumped high into their air avoiding their polearm just as they were being stabbed in the ground appearing over their bodies with his katana shining with a white shine. Just as he was about to land behind all of them, he slashed his sword this time cutting through their bodies in a straight horizontal pattern. After his feet had finally touched the ground, Kensei started to head in the direction of another group.

Jason continued watching all of it, as Kensei taking down the numbers of his Golden Squadron one after another using simple tactics such as using their weapons of choice against them.

"W-What the hell is going on," Jason said as he watched his surefire attack method being torn down as if it were a simple game. "I used this method to defeat opponent after opponent in the past and all of them were a lot older than this little brat. Using simple methods such as using the range of their attack to his advantage and that old bastard complimented its potential to be a finisher. I won't let this little bastard get the better of me."

Jason moved all of the remaining archers into a position around Kensei who just finished off another close-range squad member making the long-range archers the last opponents. Leaving the numbers to just fifteen, which also included Jason.

"I'll just take care of these guys then hunt down Jason."

Kensei said as he took off in the direction of the team of fourteen archers who had their arrows directed at them with his katana prepped to attack. Following their direction, all of the archers fire off a series of arrows at Kensei who charged at them. In response to their attack, he started cutting down each of the arrows aimed at him using his katana to cut all of them in half. At almost the same moment as another group of arrows were being aimed at him, there was another group of four arrows coming at from a different direction.

In his current position, Kensei wouldn't be able to dodge the arrows as all of them were close to piercing him. It was as if time slowed and he could tell that if he were to deflect the arrows in front of him, then he wouldn't be able to deflect the ones coming from the side; it would end in the same end if Kensei were to deflect all of the arrows coming in from his right side. It was at that moment, he decided what he would do.

Kensei made a couple of slashes in front of him knocking down the arrows fired from the remaining team of bow-wielding from Jason's golden squadron. However, the four arrows that were fired off from a different direction had pierced his shoulder, right arm, right forearm, and left a deep cut on his cheek causing blood to leak out from his wounds. It also caused him to land on the ground due to the pain caused by that attack.

[Hahahaha! How do you like that?! Not so confident…huh.]

Jason using his archers as a medium looked and noticed that Kensei was staring in the direction of where four of the arrows came from with narrow eyes. It was true that during his lessons with his mother that he learned all the Amagiri-ryū invented by the Amagiri Clan, however, there was one lesson that he didn't get to before being taken and brought to Hagun Island. Though he got at least the basics of it, Kensei started channeling his ki to strengthen his vision letting him see things from a long distance away from his current position with great clarity.

After searching for a couple of short seconds, Kensei had spotted his target. It was Jason sitting on top of the tree with his light bow in his hand.

[Tch, that little bastard used the points of where my arrows were stabbed into him as a hint to let him know what my position was. A child his age should be wailing in pain after having one piercing them, but he used it to find me. Just what the hell kind of training do you do?!]

"I trained with a woman known as the Demon of the Amagiri. Of course, I'm not a normal kid," Kensei said after standing in a position to start running. "I have met people who say that I'm as stubborn as both of my parents. A bundle of adorableness that can also kick ass…at least that it was the woman said. Though, I can guess that you have never considered it."

[Considered what?]

"Considered what it would feel like to be hunted down."

Kensei replied as he sheathed his katana and stood in a position that looked as if he were preparing to run at full speed forward. He channeled ki into both of his legs and he kicked the ground causing it to break from a great deal of pressure and he took off forward in the direction of where Jason was located. Seeing Kensei beginning to chase after him in his current position, Jason started to become nervous and panicked.

[Capture him!]

Hearing the order from their leader, the remnants of the Golden Squadron started to chase after Kensei inside of the dense forest. Five of the fourteen archers pointed their bows at Kensei who jumped from branch to branch at high speeds using athletic movements to the point where it was almost impossible to keep up with him using the naked eye. As a couple of arrows went flying at him, Kensei placed his hand on a tree using it to swing himself to the right in a horizontal manner letting the light arrows pass by him. Using the momentum from the swing to throw himself in the direction of the pursuing archers and cut down three of them using one hand.

Kensei went passed the remaining eleven archers landing on the branch of a tree, while the remaining ones took their stances on other branches. All of them fired off their arrows at him causing Kensei to jump out of the way as more and more of them were sent flying at him. He later reached a wide tree wide enough for it to block him from all of the arrows being sent in his direction. As he remained there, more and more arrows started to pelt the dense tree that he was hiding behind.

[Destroy him!]

Receiving that order, all of them changed their tactics as a bright golden light started to gather around their bows forming light arrows that possessed an incredible amount of destructive power greater than anything that Jason has displayed before. Each of them fired off their powerful arrows all at once aimed at the dense tree that Kensei was hiding behind. Once it made contact―

Dooooooon!

It caused a large explosion of light that extended a great distance completely obliterating an incredible portion of the dense tree including causing several others to fall due to the aftershock. It formed a lot of smoke that expanded a great distance blocking their vision for a moment.

[Another great attack from our Golden Archer! It was also stronger than anything that our Last Amagiri can handle! How will he handle this?!]

The arbiter called out in a loud voice.

After all the smoke finally cleared, it showed the top of the tree to be blown up revealing the splintered bark, but there was no trace of Kensei anywhere.

[Hahahaha! What was with all that boasting before Kensei Amagiri?! Oh, wait? You can't say anything can you?!]

Jason shouted out loud in a tone befitting a person who's close to losing their mind.

"Amagiri-ryū…."

(Translation: Heavenly Mist School)

Kensei's voice came from the skies above them causing Jason to look up in shock.

Kensei was holding his katana above his head with its blade shining with a white shine, but the difference was it started to emanate lightning-based ki that expanded outwards.

"…Hiken: Raimeiken."

(Translation: Secret Sword: Thunderbolt Blade)

Kensei aimed his sword in the direction of the tree where Jason was hiding and fired off a blast of lightning that went flying in his direction at high speeds. Once it made contact, it covered the top portion of the tree in lightning and seemingly hit Jason as the remaining archers started disappearing as light particles on after another.

"I pulled that off on my first attempt," Kensei mumbled as he made a tired look on his face after firing off that last attack. Among the Amagiri-ryū, this a secret technique was one that he normally wouldn't have been taught until reaching the age of 14-16. This was due to the amount of ki required to use it when not mastered and for as a 10-year-old it was due to his talent that allowed him to use it on his first try, Kensei couldn't do anything about the power and stamina drained from him. "Though, I feel tired all of a sudden."

Kensei had felt a wave of weariness wash over him all of a sudden as he started falling towards the ground unable to regain his stance. And he made a loud thud after his back hit the ground causing him to groan from the pain caused by the impact as his katana landed next to him.

"I haven't heard the announcer yelling that the match has ended," he said to himself as he continued to stare at the skies with a look as dull as the one belonging to Alice. "So, that would mean that he is still…."

Kick!

"Gah!"

Kensei felt a sharp pain in his side causing him to let out a pain-filled shout and was strong enough to send him away from a short distance from his position. After placing his hand on his side, he glanced up and it was Jason standing in front of him with a pained look on his face. His former modified battle outfit was torn off from the right side leaving a tattered mess with a series of bleeding injuries on his arms and chest including burns. Jason also had one of his eyes as blooded leaked from his head threatening to entire that eye.

"…you. You! You! You! You bastard! Do you know what you've done to me!"

"Made you look more like a man?"

Jason formed a gold light spear in his hand and made a motion to throw it at him, but as a result of the pain that was dealt with him from that last attack; his aim was altered hitting the ground further away from Kensei instead of it hitting him. Jason placed his left hand on his damaged right arm causing him to glare at the younger kid with an intense glare, then he started to approach Kensei grunting in pain.

"You humiliated me in front on MY turf you little shit," Jason shouted out loud as he stood over Kensei. "Never in my life have I ever experienced this level of humiliation."

"You know from that position from before you looked like Frieza after he got owned by Goku's spirit bomb."

Stomp!

"Gwah!"

Jason stomped on Kensei hitting his stomach causing him to spit out a small trace of blood from his mouth due to him covering his foot with light. He continued to do this to the point where it felt almost as if some of his ribs were either fractured or broken.

"…hah…hah," Kensei started breathing heavily as Jason removed his foot from him. "I-Is that the…best that you go?"

Kensei said with a brave smirk as he spat some blood from his mouth at Jason's cheek causing him to scrunch up his face with a look of absolute rage. Jason covered his fist with a great amount of light and launched it at him at high-speeds threatening to make contact with his face.

"Would you just die already," Jason roared.

As soon as Jason came inches to making contact with his face, there was a gleam in Kensei's eyes and moved his head aside causing Jason's fist to hit the ground.

"What the?!"

"Amagiri-ryū: Ukigumo: Rakka Raimei!"

(Translation: Heavenly Mist School: Flouting Cloud: Falling Thunder)

In a single instant, Kensei lifted his lower body and wrapped both his legs around Jason's waist, while he had positioned both his hands next to himself to where his fingers dug into the ground. Using the strength contained in his lower body and lifted Jason's body into the air and slammed the top of his head onto the ground in front of his head knocking him unconscious on impact. This was an Amagiri-ryū grappling technique used after getting an opponent at close enough range using the weight of their body around them. However, due to the motion of this technique, he felt great pain in his sides causing him to breathe heavily again.

"Seriously, that went easier than expected," Kensei said as he laid back on the ground. "If I were dealing with a more experienced a competent opponent, then it would have been difficult to do that."

[…well, what an incredible last-second move! What other skills do out Last Amagiri has up his sleeves! As he has eliminated the older brother among our Dynamic Duo!]

The crowd let out a scream that felt almost distant to Kensei as he continued to lay on the ground with both of his arms sprawled next to him. After a while, he stood up on his feet and started to head in the direction of the exit leading to the dressing room.

* * *

Inside of Zane's residence, everyone stared at the screen with a relieved look on their faces after seeing Kensei had come out of his fight with Jason alright. Alice who was sat next to Claire with the young girl's head on top of her lap comfortable had smiled sincerely. As a result of her treatment from Hisui, she was sleeping in a far more comfortable manner compared to before when she had trouble breathing.

However, all of their looks of relief started to wear off, Hisui made a look of concern after seeing how Kensei was walking outside of the arena almost as if he were in pain.

"I'm glad that Ken Ken won that fight, but he doesn't look alright," Hisui stated at first before getting onto the most serious manner about his condition. "But, I think that some of his ribs are fractured or broke from those last hits dealt with him by Jason. I mean, even if it was meant to catch him off guard."

No one in the room disagreed with what Hisui as said, and Zane felt like Kensei would do something like that as Jason was that kind of opponent who would let their guard down as soon as they believed they had won. Hearing that from her roommate, Rui nodded her head in agreement.

"I know, Kensei-kun is tough for his age, but he isn't indestructible."

Rui replied right after Hisui who still looked concerned for him.

"I should go and meet him there to make sure that he gets here alright," Zane said out loud as he started to head in the direction of his front door. "After all that Kensei has enough strength to go get a bottle of water in that back alley shop, then head back here. It should take him either ten or twelve minutes."

After saying that final part, Zane walked outside of his residence and started heading into the direction of the entrance leading into Residential Area A.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside of Paradise, Kensei was heading down an alleyway where the children living inside of the four residential areas are allowed to enter. It was heading in the direction of a single store that remained further away from the streets where the high-class people inside of the capital. After reaching the entrance, Kensei went inside of the shop causing the bell on the entrance to sound catching the attention of the middle-aged clerk who stared at him with a look of admiration.

"Oh, it's the little Amagiri Kid. I wanted to thank you for that little show," he said out loud in a rough tone. "I placed a lot of money on you to win that fight."

"Thanks, I guess."

Kensei replied in a tone but said that last part in a low tone so that the clerk wouldn't here him.

He started to walk at a much slower pace than normal as the damage to his ribs caused during the last couple of hits from Jason. Kensei had to wait until he made it back home and have Hisui heal him up before doing anything too extraneous even if it was simply running. After picking up a bottle of water from the fridge, he had headed in the direction of the front counter.

"I want to buy this."

Kensei reached into his pocket and pulled out the money for the bottled water, then handed it to the clerk.

"Nice doin' business with ya kid."

After saying that short insincere goodbye, Kensei stepped outside the store, while he had opened the cap on the bottled water. He took a large sip from the water as his thirst started to be quenched as started to head down one of the alleyways and saw the opening leading into the streets. However, just as Kensei was entering the alleyway leading in the direction of his residence.

"That was another amazing fight."

"That Amagiri Brat gave the crowd a great show."

After hearing his name being spoken, Kensei remained hidden in that corner and noticed the demonic power that was radiating from the people talking about him.

"Based on their voices and tone including this demonic power, I think they're Old Devils."

Kensei mumbled to himself in a low tone so that no one could hear his voice.

Walking down the street were the very same three Old Devils Taro was talking to inside his office in Paradise Tower on the top floor. After leaving from the last match, they started to head back to where Taro is still located to talk more about their former business plan.

"I hope that Taro would agree to our agreement and taking either that Amagiri Brat or that girl with the Longinus."

"It can't be helped. He does have a point. If we just show up with either of t them questions will start to raise how we attained either of them."

"However, to think we would run into another issue on this island. What a small world this is."

Kensei heard from their tone that they were talking about someone serious enough for them to sound this tense about them.

"Who would have thought that Cleria Belial would have had a daughter with Masaomi Yaegaki that Exorcist?"

After hearing those two names, Kensei's eyes widened a bit out of shock as there was no way that he could ever forget those names. Cleria Belial and Masaomi Yaegaki, those were the names of Claire's beloved parents who she had no clue was still alive. He noticed that the two Old Devils were still heading in the opposite way of him down the street. And wanting to know the truth about what happened to Claire's parents, he made a decision that could end up getting himself into trouble, but―

"Well, I've done crazier things before."

Kensei mumbled as he finished off the bottled water in his hand, then he bent both his legs with both his hands in a position next himself. He glanced in the direction of the roof above him and knew what he had to do. Even with his damaged ribs, Kensei knew that he could still pull it off. And a single moment, he jumped high into the air with both his feet touching the first wall, then he bounced off of the second wall and continued that routine until he had reached the top of the roof. Though as soon as his hand touched the edge of the roof, Kensei felt a sharp pain in both his sides, he still pulled himself up using one hand.

"…come on," Kensei said to himself as if to prep himself. "You're going to do this for Claire."

Kensei ignored the pain that he felt in his side originating from his damaged ribs and he began following the three Old Devils as they continued to walk down the street. This was something that no normal person in his position would do, but Kensei was doing this for someone that he cared about.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the fifth chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, in this chapter we got into more depth in the business life of Taro Aoyama and met a couple of Old Devils involved in the death of Claire's mother and father, who have now heard of her existence on Hagun Island. We later saw said half-devil and half-human working with the other kids, but for whatever reason, she became ill and passed out, then she is later taken home. Inside of Zane's Residence, both Kensei and Alice are with him who may have found a method for them to escape from Hagun Island** **showing off his strategic nature. After doing that Claire is brought into his house by the same girl who stopped her from falling.**

 **Before Kensei could do anything for her, he is called back into the ring and this time his opponent is the Golden Archer himself who defeated Layla in such a humiliating manner. And in that fight, we all got to see what both of them can do in a fight with Kensei showing off more of his families' techniques. Though in the end, Kensei did win the match, he came out of it with a couple of broken ribs. In the end, he has stumbled upon the Old Devils and heard the names of both Claire's parents. And decides to follow them to find out what happened to them.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **PS: There is a chance that I will add both Koneko and Kuroka, but if I were to do that then I would have to add Ravel Phenex since we all love the rivalry between the two of them.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah,** **Minako** **. (WIP)**


	6. The Departure

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let us answer some reviews:**

 **Hellspam: Yes, those three are among the best characters in High School DxD. I have a couple of ideas about how the two of them could meet.**

 **Sonic: Thanks.**

 **Weslyschraepen: I think so too.**

 **Kalashnikov ak47: Thanks. Here it is.**

* * *

 **The Departure**

In front of the entrance leading into Residential Area A was Zane who stood there waiting for Kensei come back from the shop after finishing his match with Jason. He had been there for at least a couple of minutes waiting for him but he hasn't seen or sensed the slightest trace of him coming back.

"Where is he," Zane questioned as he crossed his arms.

Zane knew that Kensei wasn't the kind of person who would keep everyone waiting like this after finishing a fight like that. Especially since he more than anyone was most concerned about Claire's condition being as terrible as it was after he left. Though before he could think about his current whereabouts, Zane heard a familiar voice and footsteps starting to approach him.

"I see. So you're waiting for him as well."

Zane turned around and noticed that it was a Maria whose light-brown haired flowed in the same direction as the air blew. She wasn't alone, standing next to her was a girl who looked around the same age as Claire, though the difference was that her hair looks almost like fresh white snow and her eyes look almost like blood. Based off of what Zane could see, her eyes looked slit as well. After noticing Zane looking at her, the white-haired girl had nervously stepped behind Maria.

"Oh, Maria. What're you doing here?"

"I saw the match with Kensei and Jason, then I become impressed by his performance. Though I guess that now I owe him two favors since he defeated Jason for me," Maria replied laughing gently before placing her hand on top of the white-haired girl's head. "So to pay off one of those favors, I brought this child here to heal his injuries. Even if she doesn't have the same experience or power as Hisui, I can vouch for her power to heal."

Maria replied in a tone that showed her trust and belief in the girl's abilities causing Zane to attempt to get a better look at the girl, but she continued to move from his line of sight.

"She looks a little timid."

"I know right, I took her a while to warm up to even me," Maria stated. "Her name is Iris. She wouldn't tell me a lot about her past, but she did tell me that she was born in an institute inside of the Church. I thought that Kensei will be back from his match after a while, but what's taking him so long?"

"I don't know. He never takes that long to come back."

Zane replied as he shrugged his shoulders.

Both of them made a confused look on their face as neither still couldn't sense Kensei arriving anywhere near the Residential Area.

* * *

Standing on top of the building top inside of Paradise was Kensei jumping from building to building following after the three old devils who mentioned Claire's parents. All three of them just continued heading in the direction forward down the street until meeting up with two gehenna guards who acted as their escort. Even with all of the large steps that he took to make it to another roof he made little to no noise-causing none of the guards to notice his presence.

" _Jeez, how long are these guys going to walk,"_ Kensei thought as he started to feel a little exhausted due to him not resting at all after his match. _"…this is starting to get tiring."_

His worries went answered as the old devils and gehenna guards following them stopped at a small shop where two people were waiting and sitting outside in chairs. One of them was Taro who sat in a lazy manner drinking a cup of juice that he received from the shop for free. Standing with him was Hayashi with both his arms crossed and stood professionally. After seeing him there, Kensei almost lost himself but maintained his anger to keep from getting himself caught.

After seeing the three old devils taking a seat near Taro who placed his drink on the table and glanced up at the three of them, then smiled.

"It's glad to see you guys in a much better mood," he said out loud after opening his arms. "From our last meeting, you seemed a little on edge."

"We just ran into an unforeseen issue from the past," the first old devil said in a somewhat annoyed tone. "Well, all talked it over with one another and wanted to talk about our deal from before."

Hearing that from them caused Taro to smile in a devilish manner showing off his greed that couldn't be similar to that of a devil. Kensei remained on his stomach looking up without them noticing his presence, he ignored all the pain from his ribs and instead focused on listening to their conversation.

"We wanted to talk about taking that little girl…Claire Belial."

After hearing that Kensei to widen his eyes out of shock and he unconsciously started to ball up his hands and it caused his fingers to scratch against the roof. The sound made was so slight that it couldn't be heard in such a loud and quiet though it caught Hayashi's attention.

"Belial? So, that would mean that she is a relative of Diehauser Belial," Taro said as he leaned his hand on top of his chin with a sly smile. "Who would have thought that kid would be related to the Rating Game Champion. Are you going to send the little kid back to her family and make it a while wonderful little reunion?"

Based on his tone along, the three old devils could already tell that Taro knew what they planned on doing as soon as Claire left the island. The more that all of them talked the harder that it was getting for Kensei to control himself after hearing them talk about Claire like she was just an object and not a person.

"Of course not," the second old devil said in a superior tone. "Her mother stuck her nose in something that she shouldn't have concerned herself with."

"And lucky for us, at around the same time we found out that she got into a relationship with an Exorcist from the Church and it gave us cause to act," the third old devil added. "No one aside from the other old devils like us, the Great King Faction, and a small number of members from the Church knows about the incident itself."

"Of course, we used that as an excuse for what our real motive was."

Kensei heard this "real motive" and wanted to know what that was about, though he soon noticed that all of them stopped walking and glanced behind Taro.

"What would that be…."

"What happened to your guard?"

Once Kensei heard the third old devil question Taro about that, he glanced and noticed that Hayashi wasn't even behind Taro any more. When did Hayashi move?!

"Huh? I thought that I heard someone who wasn't supposed to be here."

Kensei heard a familiar voice, but he didn't turn around as there wasn't a need for him to see who it was.

Just as he thought, Hayashi was standing behind him with his hand on his hip. Hayashi never opened his eyes yet at the same time, Kensei felt a presence from him that caused him to shutter a bit.

"I felt something like this before over four months ago," Hayashi said as he placed a hand under his chin. "It was that same time that I fought that woman. Are you related to her?"

 _"I screwed up, I was too focused on those guys,"_ Kensei yelled in his head. _"I didn't notice him moving. …no I've got to calm down and think. I know that I can't fight this guy …with that ring is still on Taro's finger he can stop me as long as I remain on this godforsaken island. I got no choice."_

"I know what you're thinking, but…."

In a single movement, he placed his hands on the floor of the roof and pushed himself into the air, then he aimed both his feet at Hayashi. The blind man held his armored arm up and sighed and blocked his feet without trouble. Instead of making another attempt to attack him, Kensei bent his legs and kicked off of Hayashi's armored arm using all the strength that he could muster in his legs and launched himself away from him.

He went flying into the air, then gathered ki into his hand and aimed Taro. The attack seemingly made contact with them causing a large cloud of smoke including an explosion.

"Aahhhh!"

"Iyaaaah!"

"What happened?!"

There were a couple of people screaming at the attack thinking that someone was attacking Hagun Island and all of them started to panic. All of them were affluent people who's never had to worry about anything in their entire life and it caused Kensei to let out an annoyed sigh after landing on the roof on the other side.

"Jeez, I hate grown-ups like this."

Kensei said as he glanced at the smoke cloud and noticed that there was something inside of it that blocked the smoke. Once it cleared, it was revealed to be a magic barrier formed by one of the gehenna guards.

"Of course, they would have a magic-user among them."

"Taro-dono, I would have to discuss how you should keep those people under control."

The first old devil replied after dusting himself off.

"You'd think after seeing a couple of rebellious kids dragged away and disappear without a trace would cause no more issues like this," Taro replied as he sighed taking a sip from his juice. "Well, your mother was rebellious to the end, so I wouldn't expect anything less. "Chains of Gehenna…bind…."

"Wait."

Hearing Hayashi speak caused Taro to stop the activation of the collar around Kensei's wrist as it started to blink with a red light.

"What is it? Hayashi-san?"

"It's been a long time since I stretched my legs. And if you're paying for someone of my stature, it would be best if you receive the full benefits."

Kensei stared at Hayashi who looked as if he were preparing to run after him, then Taro thought about it before he shrugged his shoulders.

"Sure thing, but bring him to us when you're done. Hmm, I think that the beach on the north end of the beach will be a great place to have a little chat."

Hearing that from Taro caused Kensei to narrow his eyes feeling that they were just playing with him in the same manner as the Gehenna Tournament. He stood on the roof on the other end of the street, while Hayashi stood on the roof that he was on beforehand. Kensei knew that he couldn't defeat him in a head-on fight and realized that he wasn't anything like the monsters in the tournament or the gehenna guards. Training in the Amagiri-ryū for as long as he could remember allowed him to tell the difference between him and his opponent. And there had been just one person who would have beaten him.

But, that person―

"Fine, then let's play."

Without many options, he decided to play along with Hayashi's game and he started running and jumped onto the next rooftop. Hayashi just watched rubbing his chin as he saw Kensei traveling from rooftop to rooftop at a great level of speed. As he continued traveling using the rooftop, he noticed that there were still several affluent people running due to that last attack that he launched beforehand at Taro.

"Seriously, what am I going to do to get out of this?"

"Youth is truly a wondering thing. But, you're still injured from that match with one of my apprentices."

Once Kensei heard the voice of Hayashi right next to him, he made an immediate attack aiming his right leg in an attempt to get away from the blind man. As if anticipating that attack, Hayashi held his hand out catching Kensei by his ankle and pulled him in his direction. He knew that as soon as his left leg was caught then he wouldn't be able to get away from this man, but he had limited options to get out of the grasps of this opponent.

"Amagiri-ryū: Ha-ke!"

(Translation: Heavenly Mist School: Blade Kick)

Kensei channeled ki into his foot and aimed it forward at Hayashi's hand where he was holding onto his leg, to be a bit more specific, his wrist. This is a basic fighting technique taught to children among the Amagiri Clan, though what mattered most was how it was used. Once his attack made contact with its target, it caused a loud noise to resonate across the air including causing a flash of light.

"Did that do it…?"

After the light vanished, his eyes widened after seeing that "Ha-ke" didn't even affect him in the slightest, it didn't at all cause his arm to budge. Before Kensei could do anything though, Hayashi raised him into the air by his leg and slammed him into the rooftop causing it to break under the pressure.

"…ah…."

Kensei started to lose consciousness though he remained it just to glare at Hayashi with hazy eyes.

"You're a tough one," Hayashi said in a lighthearted manner. "Though, if you were dealing with someone else it is possible that attack would have worked."

Once he said that to Kensei, Hayashi removed his cloak revealing his trained muscular body and arms, but what caught his attention most was the series of healed injuries and stitches that still hadn't been removed; including his right arm that he thought was armored, but instead it was robotic and his left arm had a series of implants in it that also seemed robotic in nature. After seeing that Kensei widened his eyes a little and found out why none of his attacked worked against him.

"I worked as a mercenary in the supernatural world for as long as I could remember and even with my blindness, I was never obstructed in the slightest. I trained my other senses and swordsmanship to the point where I could handle fighting monsters without any issues," Hayashi has explained as Kensei continued to remain on the ground motionless. "I fought throughout many battles despite my blindness without the slightest bit of fear entering my mind, but I never thought that I would feel fear from a woman. Despite me being able to sense her in front of me, I couldn't at all hear any of the vibrations in the air caused by her swinging either of her swords. For me, who already couldn't see anything and could rely on my other four senses…it was frightening to fight against an opponent who was invisible to me."

After he finished his explanation, Hayashi fixed his cloak back on his upper body.

"Your mother is deserving of the title Demon the Amagiri," he stated with a slight laugh. " To her, I lost an arm and a leg. All the tendons and nerves in my other arm were wrecked to the point where it became useless. She caused extensive damage to a number of my internal organs to where I needed to have extensive surgery and in the end a phoenix tear. And after all that, I required an extensive number of cybernetic enhancements and more additions for me to continue to do my job as effective as before."

Hayashi also showed his cybernetic leg by raising his pants legs and indeed he was enhanced further due to all of the cybernetic enhancements that were added onto him.

"Though no matter how strong an opponent is, the moment that they drop their guard that split second would, in the end, result in death," he replied in a manner that showed his resentment for his mother after everything that she did to him before his death. "But, I guess that it proves that she was a loving mother seeing her son being in such a manner caused her to completely lose focus."

Hearing that from Hayashi caused Kensei to grip his teeth out of frustration and anger, though just as Kensei was about to make another stand. He was launched into the direction of a wall on top of the roof causing by Hayashi, as soon as he made contact with the wall, it cracked on contact and this time it caused him to fall onto his knees, then fell forward and lose consciousness.

Hayashi approached him with a slight hint of animosity radiating off of him. As soon as he reached Kensei, in one sudden moment of surprise, Kensei moved again with his feet radiating ki using "Hake" again and aimed it at his chin. Using his quick reaction time and experience, he dodged it causing the still conscious Kensei to land on the ground on his back. Despite dodging it, Hayashi felt a wound open on his cheek causing blood to drip from it.

"Despite still being knocked out, his body still reacted to my killing intent and attacked me. This kid isn't at all as powerful as his mom when we last fought, but his potential is greater than hers," Hayashi stated as he walked in the direction of Kensei wiping the dripping blood off his cheek and stopped emitting killing intent. "I guess that is to be expected from the child of a woman once feared as the 'Demon of the Amagiri' and a man once feared as the 'Black Dragon of Uesugi' and once revered as the 'Great Hero'."

Hayashi reached behind his back and pulled out a pair of handcuffs, then placed both of them on Kensei's wrists from behind. He later placed Kensei on his shoulder and started to head in the direction of the beach where Taro and the others were supposed to be.

* * *

Inside of a pitch-black space there, no source of light could be seen, Claire remained in this space motionless and staring blankly not knowing if she were staring forward, backward, left, or right. This wasn't something that she'd experienced before but Claire didn't feel any danger at all. If anything, she felt more content than before.

[Who would have thought that I'd end up with someone like you? Not that I have anything against you, this just is not something that I'd ever expect.]

Claire heard an unfamiliar voice in this deep darkness, though she couldn't see who it was, she could at least tell that it was a male at least the same age as her father by the tone alone.

"Who are you?"

[Hmm, I believe that could wait until later. Though I don't think that you'd believe me if I told you.] the male had replied in a tone that didn't hold the slightest bit of malice intent or did it appear that he was lying. [All you need to know is that we are…how would you say it? Well, my soul is linked to yours as my host in this era.]

"…did you just possess me or something? Cause this sounds like a possession."

Claire replied with a blank face and tone, hearing this caused the male to let out a little laugh.

[No, I wouldn't say that this is a forceful possession like a came out of nowhere and just decided to inhabit your body or anything. You could say that I've been with you ever since the moment that you were born.]

"Those sounds like the same words of a pedophile trying to convince a people that he isn't a pedophile."

[….]

The male remained silent at the cold reply from Claire. Not due to him being found out or something like that. It is just that he never expected that kind of reply from a girl her age and in such a tone considering her upbringing.

[So, cold. I never expected those words from a child your age.]

"I never expected to be possessed," Claire replied before thinking about this morning. "Wait, were you the cause of me getting sick like that?"

[I'm not possessing you. The cause of your illness was due to your half-devil heritage and demonic beings being at a natural imbalance with my specific heritage and abilities, resulting in you ending up in such a state. Though it feels in this era as if the natural balance between those two powers is out of balance somehow. You don't have to worry about it anymore, you've gotten used to my abilities and will awaken sooner or later. Most people of your similar heritage would have had serious damage done to their bodies by now.]

Claire listened to his explanation and noticed that again that he wasn't lying to her at all. After hearing him, Claire bowed her head in forgiveness causing the male to make a confused sound.

"I apologize for my accusation. I was just surprised. And I'm not that nice to other people aside from Nii-chan and Alice-nee."

[That is alright, I think that a reaction like this is appropriate.]

"So, what is your name?"

[I'll tell you later. It looks as if you're starting to wake up.]

"Huh? What're you…?"

* * *

Inside of Zane's Residence, Claire opened her eyes and found herself lying down on Alice's lap and she looked around the room. After noticing that she woke up, Alice stared downward at Claire with a notable smile plastered on her face. Claire felt as if her head was still spinning around a little bit causing her to not want to sit up just yet worrying what might happen if she did.

"Alice…nee? How long have I been out?"

"For almost an hour and a half."

Hearing that from her caused Claire to let out a slight sigh.

"I'm sorry that I worried you all," Claire said out loud letting out a slight sigh. "I'm always getting in the way in one way or the other. Where is everyone?"

Claire noticed that no one else were there when she woke up to greet her. Even Zane, the homeowner wasn't in the living room and even Hisui wasn't there teasing her as soon as she woke up. Alice had made a nervous look on her face after hearing that question. She already thought that Claire might end up asking that question, but in the time that passed, Alice hadn't come up with an appropriate answer to give her.

"E-Everyone just went out for a bit," Alice replied.

It was almost a half-ass lie that was the first thing that came into Alice's mind at the time, though it didn't take that long for Claire to realize that she was lying. It didn't take long for Claire to recall that Kensei left to beforehand to fight in the Gehenna Tournament against Jason. That sudden realization and Alice's lie caused Claire to jump up from her lap at such a speed that it caused her to feel a slight in of nausea though she ignored it.

"Alice-nee, don't lie to me. Did something happen to Nii-chan?"

If that were the case, then Claire would be reliving the same feeling if despair that she felt like the last thing that she had seen being her father's back.

"Fine," Alice said in a low tone. "Kensei won the fight in the end, but we don't know if anything happened. Zane, Hisui, Rui and everyone are looking around to see if they can find him anywhere."

Claire felt as if her world she was able to rebuild with Kensei, Alice and the others was about to crumble. Noticing her feeling of despair caused Alice to wrap her arms around Claire in a comforting manner. While in her grasps, Claire started to clench her arms as she trembled in Alice's arms.

"Don't worry, Claire," Alice said in a comforting manner. "This is Kensei we're talking about. I'm sure he is fine."

"Y-You're right."

Claire replied in a shaky tone causing Alice to hold her a lot tighter than before.

* * *

On the north beach on Hagun Island, Kensei started to stir away with his head feeling as if he were hit by a truck coming at him at max speed. He found himself lying on the hot sand from the beach causing him to look around in an attempt to see what happened. Kensei found himself being surrounded by the two gehenna guards, Taro, the three old devils, and Hayashi himself standing around him in a circle.

"I don't feel like playing a game of duck duck goose. So, let me go."

Thwack!

As soon as those words left Kensei's mouth, he was knocked into the ground by one of the gehenna guards who used the butt of their gun. This impact caused him to lie down on his back staring in the skies as if he weren't at all affected by that attack.

"Instead of doing this whole intimidation shtick. Why don't you just tell me what you want with me?"

Hearing that question had caused the three old devils to make an expression that looked as if they were looking at trash instead of a normal person. It was something that he would expect from who believed that they lived in a position where nothing could touch them. Seeing that no one else would answer him, Taro took a step forward.

"My associates and I were talking while you were knocked out," Taro said as he stared at Kensei. "I don't want to bore you with the details, but I thought that it would be a shame if the Last Amagiri were to die to cause all of the history and teachings of the Amagiri-ryū would vanish in thin air. So, I thought about it and decided to give you an offer as one of my personal Gehenna Guards and to teach the ancient martial arts of the Amagiri-ryū. You'll have that collar of yours will be removed and you'll be offered a room in the highest-floor of Paradise Hotel. So that is the offer that I'm offering you. What do you say?"

Kensei stared at Taro who held both his arms out in a position that looked as if he were preparing to hug Kensei, the latter stared at him with a blank look on his face.

"You want to know what I think? And I want to know this is the same thing that my parents would say if they were in my situation," Kensei said and then he inhaled some air. "Who the fuck do you bastards think you are?! Do for a second think that I would agree with anything that you assholes say after everything that you've done to all of us so far?! Standing there thinking that no one can touch you due to your positions! Let me tell all of you one thing, people like you always get taken down in the end, even if it isn't me who does it! So, you can take that offer of yours and shove it so far up all your asses!"

Hearing his response caused Taro to freeze where he stood, it was an expression that a child would make if they had been refused to have something that they wanted. It wasn't something that a grown-up should make, but it is a look that made it all the more disturbing. As if attempting to maintain his composure, Taro fixed himself up including his clothing and hair.

"Such a shame, I thought that you would be an excellent addition to our world," Taro said as he turned his heels to walk away from this area with Hayashi following behind him. "This looks to be the end of the Amagiri Clan. Do what you all want? You know, it is a shame that you left your friends like this. Though, I guess that girl who treats you as an older brother won't be too sad. Since she'll be joining you or wherever half devils go."

Hearing that from Taro caused Kensei to narrow his eyes and stood up on his feet despite him being handcuffed from behind due to Hayashi.

"What did you just say?! What're you bastards planning on doing to Claire?!"

"I made a deal with these guys that I'll be handing her off in their custody in about a month. I have no idea what her parents did, but I guess their daughter is going to pay for it. And so, you are going to pay for dampening the mood of my friends and colleagues."

"Hah! What friend?! You're nothing to these old basts…!"

Kensei was stopped after having a blast of magic power made contact with his back causing him to be sent into the ground in pain. It came from the gehenna guard who used a magic barrier to defend them from Kensei's blast of ki. Seeing that caused the other guard to let out a malicious laugh from amusement.

"Well, where are yours," Taro questioned back bringing his ring in front of his mouth. "To ensure that you are not able to get away again. Chains of Gehenna Bind…Kensei Amagiri."

The collar on Kensei's wrist activated causing the ominous magic symbols to be traced all across his entire body and focusing him to lose all of his bodies' muscular functions. Despite his attempt at resistance, Kensei fell to the ground motionless with just him being able to do was glare in annoyance at the situation. Both Taro and Hayashi walked away from the beach leaving the three old devils and gehenna guards to do whatever they wanted to him.

"You know, I made a lot of bets on you. Kensei Amagiri, so it is a shame that it had to end like this."

The magic-user said letting out a slight sigh.

"Speak for yourself," the other gehenna guard replied in a tone that showed his aggression. "I made a lot of bets against this brat and each time, he somehow pulled out a win in the end. I'm happy that Taro permitted us to beat the crap out of him!"

Kick!

Kensei being unable to defend himself let alone avoid the attack was launched into the ground and rolled on the ground causing him to breathe heavily in pain. The angered gehenna guard then walked towards him and started to beat up on him using his feet hitting in spots that he knew were injured during his fight against Jason and was unable to get them treated. He even stomped on his right shoulder, arm, and forearm, all of the places that Jason pierced him using his light arrows causing Kensei to wince in pain from the strength behind those stomps.

All three of the old devils remained standing there watching as Kensei was being beaten with an amused look on their faces. The bravado that he showed during the attack and beforehand didn't matter in the end as he couldn't do anything at all to defend himself. Though Kensei ignored everything around him and forced on what he could that didn't require the use of his muscles. As he didn't need to move his muscles to focus and use ki.

Kensei could tell none of them were able to sense what he was doing as neither of them at all knew about how to use Senjutsu like Hisui. Despite the beating that he was receiving Kensei started to focus his ki for pure defense assisting him in defending against this brutal assault from the gehenna guard.

"Hah, I am starting to get tired of beating the hell out of you."

The gehenna guard sighing out loud and pointed his gun at Kensei aiming for his right leg and without a single bit of hesitation, he fired his gun.

"Ngh!"

The force of the gun caused a bruise that appeared on his right leg instead of piercing through, this oddness had caused the gehenna guard to him to himself.

"I don't know what happened. I tested this thing on a monster and it pierced through it without much resistance, so why isn't it piercing your leg? Let me try again."

After messing with the settings on his gun, the gehenna guard switched it to an automatic firearm and he fired off a rapid barrage of bullets causing a bunch of dust to fly up into the air for the bullets that missed his legs. Though as soon as the dust cleared, it revealed that his legs were bruised though none of the attacks had pierced neither of his legs even with the modified bullets loaded into them.

"Tsk, what the hell is wrong with this gun?! I keep shooting off this gun and none of these bullets are piercing his legs! I thought that these weapons were supposed to be top-notch and greater than any weapons manufactured in the human world!"

The gehenna guard started shouting at his gun as he threw it on the ground and started throwing a tantrum like a child whose toy stopped working. Seeing this caused the third old devils to let out an annoyed sigh, then he had reached his hand out towards the downed Kensei. And in a single moment―

Doooooon!

Without a single bit of hesitance, the third old devil fired off a great amount of demonic power that caused Kensei to be flung up a great distance into the air. Several wounds that leaked out blood to form on various parts of him despite focusing his ki on defenses. It was due to the high-quality demonic power fired off at him by the old devil. Kensei fell onto the ground breathing out in a great amount of pain caused by that attack. Despite them not desiring to dirty their hands with the kind of grunt work that they could give off to a low-class devil or servant, this group of devils did know how to use their demonic powers.

"The brat is using ki to increase his defenses," the first old devils replied in an annoyed tone. "This is why I dislike humans, they always attempt to delay the inevitable by using their limited life force as a means of making up for their shortcomings. A weak human won't show their use until becoming a reincarnated devil and having their master use their powers in a far more effective manner. I am grateful to whoever exterminated that pathetic clan of humans, but I am sad that they couldn't find masters to use them properly. However, I do enjoy the image of that pathetic woman dying on the ground like a dog. Humans are meant to be used by those living at a much higher position as them."

-I am grateful to whoever exterminated that pathetic clan of humans.

-However, I do enjoy the image of that pathetic woman dying on the ground like a dog.

The words from that first old devil echoed in Kensei's head as he lied down on his stomach incapable of moving a single inch. Kensei could feel his anger starting to boil inside of him, not from the excitement from battle, but it was from the anger that he felt towards the old devils for talking down to the Amagiri Clan. His beloved clansmen that he spent a lot of time with and even trained with, the younger members that Kensei played games with, then he lost in the end.

Kensei didn't know why, but a single finger twitched and he started to clench his teeth to the point where it felt as if one of them made a grounding noise. A sudden burst of ki started to seep out from his body as one by one the ominous markings engraved on him started to become dimmer and dimmer by the moment. This sudden burst of ki let out the kind of presence that none of them would have expected to come from a child.

"D…Don't…y…you…dare," despite them being bruised from the attacked launched at him by the gehenna guard, he stood up shakily on his legs, then he glared at the old devil who talked down on his clan with an angered look on his face. "Don't you bastards dare talk about my mother?! And don't you dare talk down to my clan?!"

A white glow burst out from his forming an aura around him, Kensei recognized it as the touki that his mother and several adult Amagiri Clansmen could use. It was something that he hadn't been taught yet and didn't know how he could use it despite not being taught. Though he ignored it and continued to run in the direction of the old devils in an attempt to fight back.

"Oh?! Now we're talking, it isn't as fun is the target doesn't squirm!"

The gun-wielding gehenna guard pointed his weapon at him and fired off a rapid barrage of bullets. He expected that the bullets would pierce him this time, but it didn't go as expected. Instead, none of them could at all pierced the touki that wrapped around him. In retaliation for the previous attacks on him, Kensei raised his fist in anger.

"Get out of my way!"

Kensei swept his hand and slammed it on the side of the gehenna guard's face. That brutal attack had sent the man flying off a great distance into the ocean almost like a stone being skipped on the water surface until hitting the barrier that covered Hagun Island. Kensei continued to head in the direction of the old devils and was slowed down by the magic bullets that were being fired off at him all at once though he continued running despite this.

"This bastard is persistent!"

As soon as he was preparing to reach them with his fist reaching one of their faces, but Kensei felt something start to wrap around his leg. He glanced back noticing that it was a shining chain created using magic and it originated from the gehenna guard who hadn't done anything as of now.

"Don't get cocky now kid."

He said in a matter-of-fact tone causing Kensei to grip his teeth from annoyance.

"Don't get in my way!"

Responding to his outburst of anger, his touki flared up again like a flame causing the magic chains that wrapped around his legs shocking the magic-using gehenna guard for a moment. Though that last uncontrolled outburst caused his touki to weaken a lot compared to how it was beforehand. And as soon as Kensei turned to face all of the old devils, the three of them held their hands out gathering a massive of demonic power that turned into a big explosion of flames that engulfed his entire body causing him to rocket into the air and land on the ground.

The top portion of his clothing was burned and singed with himself being covered in burns that would've killed a normal human. Though in this state, he still managed to use his touki to defend against most of it from even that close range.

"…."

Kensei couldn't speak at all due to the injuries and burns that he suffered, just him merely moving his fingers had caused signals of pain to travel across his entire body. He could hear the old devils and gehenna guard starting to approach him at a leisurely pace not wasting their time as he couldn't even move anymore.

"Huh, that position kind of reminds me of how your mother lied just before she died."

"It's a wonder how he's still alive. Is this what you'd call Japanese spirit?"

The second and third old devil replied as they stared down at him using a superior tone, though the magic-user had looked down in a faux saddened tone.

"Huh? I kinda feel sorry for him. Do any of you think he'll survive?"

Based on his opinion, it would be possible for anyone to survive injuries and burns like that without any kind of medical attention. The first old devil glanced down and shook his head already deciding that there was no way he could survive.

"No, without the medial technologies on Hagun Island or in the Underworld there will be no way that this brat will be able to survive these injuries. It has already been almost half an hour dealing with this bastard, I would rather return to Paradise Hotel and rest before the next match starts."

"We can't just leave him here. Taro doesn't want to leave him alive after he ruined his ideal paradise."

After hearing those words from the magic-user, the first old devil thought about what to do with Kensei before he recalled something that he learned a couple of years ago.

"I heard that there was a location somewhere in the Human World, I believe where particularly dangerous youkai who loves to devour humans exists. I think that they will enjoy feasting in the remains of a member of the Amagiri Clan who possess a so-called unique bloodline."

The first old devil explained as he began activating a magic circle under Kensei who was still incapable of moving at all due to his injuries. It would transport him off of Hagun Island bypassing its barrier to that dangerous location that they planned on sending him to. Once he finished the magic circle, it started to let out a bright light that had started to wrap around Kensei's entire body. Though before he was teleported off Hagun Island, the first old devil stared at him with a smirk on his face.

"Kensei Amagiri, right? Don't worry about that girl, Claire Belial, due to her mother eavesdropping into a business that she had no business looking into, we will make sure that her daughter suffers for it. Though, I don't know if it will be a quick death or if we will turn her into a broken doll to be passed down in the underworld for us."

The implications of that caused a flame to burn inside the eyes of Kensei as his body started to fade away until he completely vanished.

"…swear. I swear…I…will…make…you all…pay. If…you lay…one hand on…Claire!"

Just as the old devil left his final words, Kensei said his words, but he vowed that they wouldn't be his last words.

* * *

Located somewhere in the Human World, a large mountainous area further away from the places where humans lived and numerous ominous presences could be felt around the entire area. Several youkai who gave off a dark aura different from other members of their species, these were the youkai considered more demonic.

"Ngh…."

The magic circle appeared in the middle of a forest covered in a purple-colored mist inside of the mountains that were filled with thick trees and Kensei landed on the ground letting out a pain-filled grunt. He glanced around the area near him and could already sense the presence of the youkai near the area. Based around the darkness in the area, he could tell that it was nighttime in this area.

"I-I can't die…here…." Kensei mumbled to himself in a low tone that couldn't cause much pain to his throat. "…I have to get…back….I-I have to…."

After saying those last words, he couldn't handle much anymore and landed on the ground and was in and out of consciousness. As he continued to lie on the ground motionless, there were a couple of shuffling noises that had came from the bushes around him. Coming from the bushes were a group of large youkai who could tower over a full-grown adult by a wide margin and covered in a thick aura that emanated a dark presence greater than any of the monsters that Kensei faced in the Gehenna Tournament.

There was a female youkai who had the characteristics of a spider, a male who looked almost like a hound, and a final one who looked more like a demon. All three of them glanced down at Kensei who couldn't move and they sensed the presence that emanated from him.

"I can sense strong ki coming from that child's spirit."

The demonic-looking youkai said as he stared down at Kensei who was close to falling into unconsciousness.

"Hmm, what a delectable looking child."

The spider youkai said as she opened her mouth showing her fangs that started to drip out a purplish poison that fell on the ground causing it to dissolve on contact.

"I don't know where this kid came from, but he came at around the perfect time," the youkai wolf said out loud as drool started to drip from his opened mouth revealing his short fangs. "I am starting to get hungry."

The wolf youkai started to approach Kensei opening his mouth wider than anyone thought to be possible for any form of creature. Though just as the wolf was preparing to take a bite out of Kensei―

Extent! An ornate looking iron staff was extended from an unknown source and smacked into the side of the wolf causing a loud noise that echoed across the entire forest. The impact also caused him to be sent crashing into a series of trees knocking them down in a forceful manner and breaking some of his teeth.

"What was hell?!"

"…what happened?!"

Both the demonic and spider youkai formed a shocked look on their faces as they watched their comrade be sent flying like a rag doll. In a single slick fashion, the iron staff went back to its source passing by them in almost an instant, however, neither of them had the slightest clue of where it came from. Again before either of them could react to it, the spider youkai was the next to be knocked unconscious after having the same staff slammed on top of her head causing her to fall onto the ground.

The last remaining demon youkai glanced around the area looking for whoever took out his comrades and begun to gather a black aura around his hands in an attempt to retaliate. Before he could make a single move, a large green almost jade-colored dragon's claw came out of nowhere slamming him into the ground causing a massive crater that formed due to the impact.

"Hey, damn old man why did we have to come here anyway?"

A loud voice that came from the skies could be heard from an enormous creature with a long serpentine oriental body covered in green-colored scales that almost looked like jade. It was among a species that couldn't at all not be known among the supernatural, it was a dragon. An Asian dragon who exuded a powerful green aura. Despite his appearance, he sounded almost young.

This specific dragon was among the Five Great Dragon Kings, the youngest member among them known as the Mischievous Dragon and Jade Dragon. He is better known as Yu-Long.

The "Old Man" that Yu-Long mentioned came from the tallest trees among the wide forest and without injuries landed on the ground. It was a short figure that looked around the same size as a kindergarten student (at least a meter tall) dressed in a cassock worn by a monk, prayer beads wrapped around his forehead, black shades that have cyber designs and carrying an ornate iron staff in his hand. However, he wasn't human, he was covered in a brilliant gold fur and black skin that has wrinkles showing his elderly age with a smoking pipe. A monkey youkai.

"There was some youkai here causing trouble for humans around this area and I decided to come here and take care of them before they could cause any more trouble."

There wasn't a single person who didn't know the name of this monkey. Even if normal humans didn't believe or have knowledge of the supernatural world, they would have at least heard his name before. Or at least heard of a character based on his name or legend. The Victorious Fighting Buddha. And the Great Sage Equaling Heaven. The Monkey King, Sun Wukong.

"That was our purpose," Sun Wukong said as he stared at Kensei who lied on the ground and noticed his serious injuries and burns. "I didn't expect to find a human child in the area. The magic presence around him doesn't feel the same as the youkai living in this area so that burns on him weren't caused by either of them. The residue of magic that is still around him feels as if it were demonic."

Sun Wukong started to approach Kensei at a somewhat normal pace, but it didn't take him that long to reach him considering that he could have crossed that distance in an instant. The monkey king reached his fur-covered hand and placed it on top of Kensei's chest noticing that his heartbeat was still strong, but he could tell that it started to decrease at a slow pace.

"Hmm."

Sun Wukong hummed as he stared down at Kensei with a focused almost surprised look. In almost an instant, strong ki started coming from him almost as if it were being drawn out by the Monkey King himself. And using his technique, a number of his burns and injuries started fading away almost as if they never existed. As a result of this Kensei started to breathe a much more normal level than before.

"I do have to agree with those three, this kid does have strong ki residing inside of him."

"This kid also had an odd faint scent on him that I hadn't smelled from a human before."

Those were the words that came from Yu-Long as he landed on the ground causing a notable thud that sounded across the forest causing most youkai in the area to flee. After hearing those words from his longtime companion, Sun Wukong couldn't disagree with what he said.

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Let's take him to get patched up. We'll ask him what happened to him after he wakes up."

Sun Wukong replied as he picked up Kensei using one hand and in a single leap, he jumped onto the top of Yu-Long's head without any difficulty at all.

"We're heading to our scheduled meeting point, Yu-Long."

"Understood, but I'd better get some excellent food later."

Those were the words that came from the dragon king as he flew into the dark skies of that youkai filled forest at a quick pace. Both the legends originating from the "Journey to the West" carried the beaten and battered Kensei to the planned location that they planned on meeting beforehand.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the sixth chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, in this chapter a lot of things happened on Hagun Island. First, Zane and the others are starting to get worried about Kensei who hadn't shown up yet including being introduced to a new character mentioned in a previous chapter. Kensei continued to follow the Old Devils who met up with Taro and Hayashi joined by the two gehenna guards. He found a little bit about the 'thing' that Claire's mother got caught up in investigating something that caused them to be targeted by the Old Devils and Church. (I'm already certain that everyone knows what that thing is.)**

 **Kensei is later discovered by Hayashi, the "Blind Swordsman" who heard the faintest sound made by the Last Amagiri. This caused the two of them to get into a game of tag with Kensei discovering that Hayashi is equipped with some cybernetic implants due to the injuries that he suffered from his mother. Later on, Claire finds herself in an odd situation where she meets up with a mysterious presence inside of her who gave her a lot of vague hints into what she will activate in the future. And Claire wakes up to find out that Kensei has been missing.**

 **Kensei wakes up and finds himself on the beach of Hagun Island where he is surrounded and his fate is already decided by the people there. After a while, he fought back against them and even awakened touki during the fight. Though in the end, Kensei couldn't fight against all of them and is gravely injured during the fight, then is sent off of Hagun Island to die in a place filled with youkai. However, he is later saved by Sun Wukong and Yu-Long who were in the same area.**

 **PS: I wanted to make DxD – The Last Amagiri different from other High School DxD stories, as a number of them has characters who reincarnate into devils and join their side. Like how I made The Magic Knight and The Twin Dragons stories where the OC is a Miracle Child (Half-Angel Half-Human) and the other one being a reincarnate angel instead of a devil. DxD – The Last Amagiri is instead a story about a human OC experiencing the bad sides of devils instead of others where the OC reincarnated and experiences all the good sides and benefits of being associated with devils.**

 **Also, I am still working on other stories such as The Magic Knight, The Twin Dragons, and I am planning to redo Sword Art Online: The White Swordsman.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah,** **Minako** **, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel (WIP)**


	7. Preparing for the Future

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Sonic: Thanks.**

 **Kalashnikov ak47: Thanks.**

 **Hellspam: Thanks, I wanted to do one where the character wasn't affiliated with Rias and the others (or at least not at the start). I also thought that it would be fun writing a human who fights using combat skills and training his natural abilities instead of relying on a sacred gear kind of like Vasco Strada. That would be funny, I mean seeing a character like that acting in that manner would be hilarious to write. Not that I hate the series itself, I mean I love everything about Avatar the Last Airbender (not the movie) from all characters, their development, and fights. I just don't think that I can write one about them that would do Avatar the Last Airbender justice.**

* * *

 **Preparing for the Future**

―One Hour Earlier

Everyone gathered inside of Zane's home, Zane himself, Hisui, Rui, Abigail, Alice, and Claire. All of them wore a look of utter confusion and loss, but Claire wore an expression that looked as if she were starting to lose all form of hope. It has been almost half an hour and none of them still hadn't found or heard anything about the location of Kensei. Even Maria and her small group assisted and looked around to no avail.

"I just heard from Maria and Layla, but he isn't in their area."

Abigail stated as she wore a worried look.

She thought of herself as an "older sister" to the younger children on this island and it would crush her every time of them was taken off the island never to be seen again.

What else could she do?

If Abigail could fight back and save all the children in need, then she would fight to her last breath, but due to the bracelet on her wrist, she couldn't muster the strength to rescue them. And she couldn't bear looking at the look of despair that was essentially etched on Claire's face from the thought that the one who acted as not just an "older brother", but also as one of her emotional support.

"Hisui? Did either you or Rui locate him?"

Zane questioned as he glanced towards the two youkai, Hisui who would use senjutsu to locate him and Rui who has enhances senses such as smell along with being skilled in general detection.

"I tried tracking him down based on his ki and I couldn't find him anywhere," Hisui replied as she glanced in the direction of Claire with a worried look. "And trust me, I wouldn't be able to forget his ki."

"I went into town to the place where Kensei-kun would frequently go whenever purchasing items and the guy that I had talked to said that he was in their almost an hour ago. I also followed his scent and lost track somewhere in the street of the so-called Paradise. And―"

"And?"

Zane questioned again feeling worried about why Rui had stopped like that.

"I don't know. Something happened in that capital, a lot of the people who were there looked to be in a panic and I smelt smoke at where I think came from a cafe. Based on what I could hear, it sounded as if Taro and some devils that were sponsoring him were attacked."

"""What?"""

Zane, Abigail, and even Alice replied in a surprised tone causing Hisui to cross her arms with a look as if to show the shock that she had on her face.

"I was surprised when Rui-chan told me about it, then I was more shocked to find out who attacked them," Hisui replied as she recalled the presence that she felt when Rui brought her there to use senjutsu. "Without a doubt, it was Ken Ken. A person's ki and magical power remain almost like a scent for a while before it vanishes."

"Why would Kensei go into the capital and attack them?"

Abigail questioned confused with Claire reacting a little after hearing his name being spoken.

"Kensei wouldn't attack them without a reason that's the point. The question is, why would Kensei attack?"

Everyone looked down with a worried look on their faces, but it became confusing as the door opened without the person knocking on the door.

"Who is….?"

Zane asked as he glanced at the door confused―no appalled to see that the person waiting at the now opened door. Wearing the same childlike smile on his face and expensive tailored suit under the guard of the same white armored Gehenna Guards. His presence felt like someone who had their lives within their hands like a counterfeit grim reaper or god. Standing there at the door was Taro.

 _"It's him."_

That was the thought that came to everyone's minds as if it were a reflex.

"Hello. Zane Wayland, correct," hearing Taro speak his name caused a sickening sensation to well up within said person's chest. "Would you mind if I were to enter…no, wait. I'm the person who was kind enough to have grant you this little home in the first place. So, I guess that I'll enter my own volition."

His snide remarked caused a feeling of aggression to well up in their chests as he walked into the living room, his hands locked behind him. As he entered the room, Zane and the others backed away from him (with Alice pulling Claire along with her). Seeing that caused Taro to shrug his shoulders as if he didn't care about their reactions in their presence.

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news," Taro started that displayed 'concern', but they could tell that it was just a lie. "I'm sure that you all have noticed that a certain person was absent among your small group."

Hearing those words from him caused a feeling of distress that could be felt inside of the room with the next few words that came from his mouth putting the final nail in the coffin.

"As of an hour ago, Kensei Amagiri has been declared as dead."

Those words felt as if a knife had just been stabbed into their hears. None of them could speak, all of them were for different reasons as to why neither of them could speak. For Zane, it was due to Kensei being the closest one that he could call his best friend and most trusted companion. For Alice, Kensei was the one person in her life that she felt that she could rely on since being abandoned by her parents. For Hisui, he was someone that she fell in love with at first sight and since he showed compassion to that around him. For Rui, it was due to the last part of what Hisui felt. And for Abigail, it felt as if she lost a younger sibling.

Most of all, for Claire who lost other people who she considered to be a family member, felt as if her world was starting to crumble apart. With the light that was in her eyes fading away turning into a lifeless expression.

"…Nii-chan."

Claire spoke as she slumped on the ground.

* * *

Kensei found himself floating in the darkness that didn't possess the slightest bit of light within it. Both of his eyes were opened as he continued to float aimlessly, though he began to think about his situation after he realized that he wasn't in the real world.

[Hmm, where am I? I don't feel anything. Not the pain that I felt beforehand from those guys' attacks. Not that the sensation of having arrows piercing my skin. I can't feel anything at all.]

Kensei thought as he stared upwards without much emotion in his voice. As if he was starting to give up.

[Did I die?] He questioned to himself as he let out a sigh of defeat. [What a pathetic end of the Last Amagiri. This isn't how I thought that it would end. What am I going to tell everyone when I see them again? Mom said that by inheriting the Amagiri-ryū, I inherited the will of everyone…having all that faith wasted in the end over this….]

Kensei said as he started to close his eyes as if he were beginning to give up.

[*Sniff* *Sniff* Do, you promise? That we'll be together forever?]

The words of a girl who felt that she lost her family echoed into his mind and the words that he spoke to that girl in a tone that displayed nothing but confidence.

[That's a promise. Even if I'm rejected by the people who don't care for devils that were once comrades to the Amagiri Clan. And even if that means the Shinto Gods as well. You don't have to worry about anything anymore, because I will always be with you forever.]

Those final words caused him to open up his eyes wide clenching both his fist and teeth as if in defiance.

[No way in hell! There is no way that I'm going to accept dying like this! Not by the hands of a bunch of old losers like that! I made a promise…not to just Claire, but other people that I won't die like this and abandon them. And if keeping that promise means that I have to reject death itself, then I fine!]

"Yea, that sounds so like you. Of course, you're mine and his child."

Another familiar voice had arrived causing his eyes to widen in shock as he looked and noticed that there was a hint of light that appeared in his path. Though the light was shapeless and without the physical form of the person whose voice is belonged to, there was no way that I could mistake it for someone else.

[Mom?]

"You inherited more than strong genes, you also inherited our unbreakable will to never give up no matter who's the opponent and no matter how powerful they are. If you were to give up, then Minako-chan and Kunou-chan would never forgive you. So stand up and continue to live your life. And as your mother and teacher…and go kick there collective stuck up asses."

That was without about his mother and hearing those words sparked something within him. He didn't know if it were just an illusion or it was her spirit helping him even now, but it didn't matter. Kensei had finally rekindled his fighting spirit and the darkness that was around him started to fade away into a realm of light.

* * *

―Two Days Later

Meanwhile, in a simple cabin built using stone built on a mountain located in China, Kensei found himself lying on a bed inside what seemed like an examination room. And he felt pain signals traveling to his brain causing him to groan as a result of it.

"…there it is," Kensei groaned as he leaned forward resulting in more pain. "There's the pain."

He noticed that there were bandages wrapped around his face with his left eye and forehead covered. There was also bandages wrapped around his chest, arms, and legs making him feel almost like a semi-covered mummy. It made him realize that he had been saved by someone and tended to, but he didn't know who it was. He glanced around the room hoping to find some clue as to where he was. Kensei later noticed that no equipment looked to be modern and more were made from wood and bamboo.

"Wait, bamboo? Am I China?"

Kensei questioned as he noticed the bamboo made things around the room and got the shaking feeling that he's in China. Wanting more answers, he turned himself around so that his feet would hover off the ground just above the floor. He intended to get out of this room and found out where he is. He scooted himself forward until his feet touched the hard floor with his hands positioned on both sides of himself. Kensei carefully got out of the bed with his legs starting to shake and buckle resulting in him almost falling forward.

Or at least, he would have, if it wasn't for him holding his hands out and kept himself from hitting the ground hard. In response to this incident, Kensei sighed as if felt as if he hadn't walked in a long time. Soon enough, he looked around the room in an attempt at looking for something to use as a walking stick. He later discovered what he was looking placed next to the bed as if it were there just in case he woke up.

"Okay."

Kensei said as he reached his hand out grasping the bamboo-made walking stick and hoisted himself to his feet, then began walking outside of the room using the walking stick. Walking through halls, he found a window which led outside of the cabin and noticed that there was mist covering portions of this area. Once Kensei looked out of the cabin, he realized that it was built in a mountainous area.

{I checked on him a while ago and his external injuries were healed and his internal ones were taken care of. If you hadn't been in that forest, even if he lived through those injuries, the malevolent youkai living there would've torn him apart. What was he doing there anyway?}

{I hadn't asked him yet, the lad was passed out when I found him.}

{I find it hard to believe that a child like that just wound in that specific place.}

He started to head in the direction of the voices that he heard in what he believed would be the living room. Or at least, that's what he thought the room was. Kensei continued and entered the room noticing that there were a total of three people inside of the room and his eyes widened after seeing what three of the two were. One of the people was Sun Wukong, a monkey youkai who looked almost as tall as himself. The second was Yu-Long as a small reptile, but Kensei could feel a powerful aura radiating from him. And third, was an aging quiet man who has a peaceful atmosphere around him.

From all three of them, Kensei couldn't see the slightest opening to where it was almost unbelievable. Once Sun Wukong saw him standing there, he started to let out a cheerful laugh.

"Oooh~ looks like the lad woke up today after all."

He stated as he stood in front of Kensei with their similar height becoming more apparent.

"Who're you all?"

"And you sound as aggressive as I thought," Sun Wukong replied with a slight laugh as he patted his head. "I am the Monkey King, Sun Wukong. The Jade Iguana over there is Yu-Long. And the person over there was the one who took care of your injuries, Xuanzang Sanzang."

"Hey, don't call me an Iguana. I'm a dragon!"

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

Blink.

"Eeeeeeeeeh! Y-Y-You're all from the Journey to the West."

"I would be careful with becoming excited," Xuanzang said in a tone one would hear from a doctor. "Though your injuries are healed, you'll hurt yourself if you overwork yourself."

"How can I not become excited? I'm standing in front of the Monkey King who had become a Buddha, the Great Victorious Fighting Buddha. One of the Five Great Dragon Kings, the Mischievous Dragon. And the monk who traveled all across India to bring back the sutras and became a Buddha."

Kensei replied in a still exciting causing Sun Wukong to continue joyfully patting his head.

"I've never met a kid this excited to meet a bunch of old men like this. Though I would like to continue to kind of talk for a while, there is something serious that I would like to ask you," Sun Wukong stated as he moved his hand from off of Kensei's head. "First, what's your name?"

"Kensei Amagiri."

"How did you end up inside that forest?"

As soon as those words left from Sun Wukong, Kensei's eyes widened in realization and could sense the level of killing intent that radiated from him.

"It was those old bastards from the underworld!"

"Are you referring to the Devils from the Bible?"

Xuanzang this time questioned in wonder, as it was the first thing that came to mind causing Kensei to nod his head in agreement, but then he questioned.

"What how did you know that? I think that other places are called the underworld in other factions."

"Well, this little thing that was on you was made using devil-based spells among others that I thought had already been classified as forbidden by the Magician's Association."

Seeing the bracelet that used to be attached to his arm, caused Kensei to stare at his wrist in shock and relief as he held his hand. It almost didn't look real as it meant that he was no longer being monitored or under a chain, it did mean, however, that his friends were still being held on that island. And knowing that caused some tears to start falling from his eyes. Sun Wukong later placed his hand on Kensei's shoulder in a comforting manner.

"Okay, calm down and explain."

"…fine, this is what happened."

Just like that, Kensei started to explain the whole situation to the three legends from the Journey to the West. All that happened about Hagun Island, the Gehenna Tournament, the conditions that the children and teens there all were put under daily. Hearing his tale caused Xuanzang to sigh as if displaying his distaste about the whole situation and crossed his arms, while Yu-Long remained silent.

"Gathering children and teens with varying special abilities, talents, and sacred gears," Sun Wukong stated as he placed his hand on his head. "Those lot crossed a line that they shouldn't have, they should be concerned about how this is going to affect the Three Factions already shaky balance. Even choosing to do this in the territory of the Shinto gods and to do this kind of business behind the backs of the four maou is a clear sign of disrespect from both sides. If this were to get out, then it might cause turbulence with between the Shinto Faction along with the Underworld."

Sun Wukong explained as he stared at Kensei who took a seat nearby and was holding a cup of tea given to him by Xuanzang. He soon rubbed his chin with a surprised look.

"I'm surprised though."

"About what," Kensei replied as he took a sip of the tea in his hand.

"I thought that the moment, that you woke up, you would try to head back to that island. But instead, you took a seat and is now drinking tea."

"I want to head back there and kick their collective asses, but I can't do that with all my minor injuries still healing. And besides, me going there alone would help anything against what is a small armed force led by an experienced mercenary who can predict all my moves."

"My my, that is a smart assessment. I wouldn't have expected that from a child your age."

"Zane, a friend of mine would have said it a lot better. Besides, one of the first things that I was taught within the Amagiri Clan was about thinking about my battles before fighting them unless I had the combat experience to fall back on. Besides, I'm going to need to take something with me before heading back there."

Kensei replied as he took another sip from that tea and placed on the table.

"Isn't there others among the Shinto Faction would assist you," Yu-Long had pointed out. "Aren't there a group of clans who deal in this sort of thing?"

"You must be referred to the Five Principle Clans. They're more of the people who would act if it were just citizens of Japan and the number of children on Hagun Island is from varying factions with some of them being apart of regular families in Japan, but they're born with unique abilities. But, there are also half breeds and pureblood apart of races that they would call "impure" and I don't think that the current heads would assist them without starting a conflict with the more zealous members. I do some other people from different Japanese Clans, but I'm not even sure that I want to contact either of them."

"Why not? It would be foolish if you were to go there alone."

"I know that, but the pudgy bastard who brought me to those bastards, to begin with, is good at finding out secrets from other clans among Japan. And if he found that I was still alive, then he would inform the people on Hagun Island about that fact and I would lose the element of surprise since they think that I'm dead."

"Why do you always curse? That isn't something that a child should do."

Yu-Long questioned as he noticed that Kensei has been cursing whenever being either upset or angry.

"Can't help it, I inherited that from my parents as well. I heard that they used to throw a barrage of curse words at one another whenever they met."

Kensei replied as he crossed his arms and glanced away from the miniature jade dragon who continued to stare at him with a somber look.

"Well, what about informing the Shinto Gods? If you were to inform the Chief-God directly, then whoever you are worried about finding out that you're still alive wouldn't find out."

Hearing Xuanzang pointing that out caused Kensei to glance down and think about the situation. He knew that it would be possible to just inform the Chief-God and he knew that it would be possible to contact them through the use of a special ceremony. Though Kensei was still considering the negatives about doing so and not acting more rationally.

"You should attempt it, believe me, there were a lot of people in the past who went into a situation by themselves and it ended disastrously. And if what you're saying is correct, then you have a month before that adoptive sister of yours is taken to the Underworld."

Sun Wukong stated in a tone one would expect from someone with as much immense experience in these kinds of situations. With no other option, Kensei stood up and nodded his head in agreement at what the Monkey King had suggested to him.

"I can't disagree with someone of your status. Besides, I would like to stop at my old home and pick up a couple of things."

Kensei stated as he noticed that Xuanzang had left the room and walked into another room that appeared to be a place acting as storage. As soon as he came back, he carried a white cloak that has various designs that come from China and looked large enough to fit Kensei along with a hood to cover his face.

"Since you don't want to be discovered, you can wear this," Xuanzang had suggested. "It also enhanced so that your presence will remain hidden even if you fight."

"Thanks, I don't know how to repay you all for this."

Kensei replied in an almost embarrassed tone after being given this level of hospitality from someone such as Xuanzang Sanzang.

"Well, if you are going now," Sun Wukong said out loud as he stood up. "Yu-Long can be the one who takes you there to Japan."

"W-What? You mean just me. What about you?"

"It would be rude for a Buddha from another faction to arrive in the Shinto Faction without proper contact first. It'll be better if it were a dragon who had a habit of doing mischievous things such as that. Isn't that right, Yu-Long?"

Sun Wukong said in a tone that displayed his joking with the dragon causing Yu-Long to become a bit unnerved about it.

"You sure like ordering around dragons. Besides wouldn't be even ruder for one of the Five Great Dragon Kings to arrive in the shrine of the Chief Gods."

"Sun may be correct, having a dragon with him may catch the attention of the Chief-God."

Xuanzang realized the intent of having Yu-Long go with Kensei and not as just as his mode of transportation.

"If you want, we can stop for something to eat in Japan."

Kensei suggested causing the attention of the youngest Dragon King.

"Well, since you say it like that. I can't disagree with taking you there, but what will you be doing, old man?"

"Hmm, things are starting to get interesting. And if it goes the way that I think that it will, then I have some things to think about."

Sun Wukong said in an almost cryptic manner with Xuanzang catching onto the meaning, leaving just Kensei and Yu-Long in the dark.

"Well, before you leave. Let me remove those bandages, as I said before you external injuries should be healed at this point and the medicine that I added to your tea should have dealt with your internal ones."

"Wait, there was medicine in my tea."

A part of the training that Kensei had done among the Amagiri Clan is to recognize anything that has an irregular taste. As such, it would make it easier for him to recognize the taste of different medicine and poisons, then use their ki to rid themselves of it. However, Kensei hadn't attempted the second part of that training.

"Yes, you don't have to worry though. It was a unique blend of herbs and medicine that will increase the functions of ones' internal organs. I checked and there were minor fractures to your ribs aside from that the other injuries were more minor. I'm sure that you'll be able to tell that the injuries done to your internal organs should be alright as soon as you land in Japan. If not, then take it easy and don't do anything too extraneous."

"O-Okay."

Surprised by the act of Xuanzang, Kensei couldn't say anything else aside from that.

"Well, why don't you both head off."

Sun Wukong has he picked up Yu-Long (without permission) and dropped him on Kensei's shoulder after putting on the cloak given to him by Xuanzang.

"Ugh. Fine."

Yu-Long said after hearing the tone that Sun Wukong had given him due to that order.

Having Yu-Long on his shoulder, Kensei started to head outside were further away from the stone cabin so that the jade dragon returning to full size and flying off wouldn't cause any damage. Seeing that Kensei had jumped on top of the head of Yu-Long and flew off in the direction of Japan, Xuanzang had glanced in the direction of his longtime comrade and friend.

"I still can't believe that a child like that went through all that. It goes to show you that humans can be both just as cruel and greedy as actual devils. I even find it harder to believe that children like that can survive at all in that kind of situation."

"If what Kensei says is true, then a lot of the children on that island has potential and the older ones have started to realize that potential in those 'fights'. I have to give them at least some credit in finding children with potential, but this fight will end up in one obvious end."

"Yes, the humans and old devils believe that they can control them due to their position. Whether or not with their intervention, those children without a goal in mind yet with potential could have become stronger in the future as soon as they realize that they can become stronger in the future. However, putting them in that kind of situation, it will just end up in creating more enemies who gained a hatred for devils. Speaking of which, what did you and Yu-Long notice about him?"

"Oh~ So you noticed it as well."

"It was during the time I was giving him an examination to tell the full extent of his internal injuries and it was at that point that I noticed something irregular. Though, I couldn't quite put my finger on it."

"Well, Yu-Long noticed it by a faint scent on him. I'll be able to concern it if he asks the question that I know he'll ask me in the end."

Sun Wukong replied in a jovial tone.

* * *

Kensei and Yu-Long soon arrived inside of a forest near a town that he requested the dragon king to stop at before heading off to contact the Chief-God of the Shinto Faction. He had the hood of the cloak granted to him by Xuanzang covering his face with Yu-Long hidden in that cloak wrapped around his neck. Kensei couldn't help but go back to the amazing skyline view that he had witnessed riding on the head of the dragon king. And it was decided that it would be better if they were to land in the forest to avoid being seen.

"Thanks for landing here first, Yu-Long. I wanted to get some things first."

"It's fine. That old man had asked me to act as your mode of transportation, so I'll do just that."

"So, do you and Sun Wukong not get along?"

"It's not that, this is just the kind of partnership that we have. Though our time adventuring together wasn't bad at all, but never tell him that. I wouldn't hear the end of that old man's teasing, even though, he isn't as mischievous as he was in the past, he still has his moments."

Yu-Long has informed Kensei who continued to head in the direction of the nearby town.

"So, how do you feel?"

"You mean my internal injuries. Well, since coming to the point, I can tell that he was right. I'm in top condition, I have to Xuanzang for that."

"Well, when you've been around for as long as Xuanzang, you learn about different methods to mending injuries."

"You seem to have a lot more respect Xuanzang more than Sun Wukong."

"Of course, I acted as Xuanzang's horse throughout our quest to retrieving the Buddhist sutras. From his past, he is also one most people would respect due to his knowledge and overall personality. In terms of Sun Wukong, others would respect him due to his accomplishments and monstrous combat strength that several gods are still in fear of."

Kensei couldn't disagree with him at all since he found himself having a similar sense of respect towards the Monkey King that he read about in stories. Before long, both he and Yu-Long found themselves coming outside of the forest staring at a beautiful town that seemed almost covered with different greenery and mountains in the background. Staring at this town had caused a wide smile to form on Kensei's face with Yu-Long realizing why he asked to stop by here.

"This place is…."

"Yep, this is my hometown. Kibou Town, a place that is governed and protected by the Amagiri Clan."

Kensei said in an ecstatic tone after seeing this place again.

Not wasting time anymore, he took off heading in the direction of the one place that meant the most to him at the kind of speed that no human could keep up with.

Kensei continued to run down the street passing by various locations and houses causing a lot of people to become confused after seeing a white blur passing them. Running through here, he could recall all the locations inside of Kibou Town by heart as he used to run around town all the time. Soon enough, Kensei found himself standing in front of a gate and stopped running as if making it to his location.

"Here we are," Kensei said with a heartfelt smile.

"This is where you lived?"

Yu-Long questioned as he stared up from inside of the cloak.

Kensei stood in front of a large residence that consisted of two buildings: the first was the main residence which is a large home that consists of four floors and second was a dojo build that could be seen in front of him behind the gate leading into residence, which also has a grassland with a pond nearby.

"It's been a long time since I've been here that it feels almost unreal."

"Didn't you say that just you and your mother lived here. So, why is the house this big?"

"It was owned by the Amagiri Clan and one of the previous clan lords lived here with their family a long time ago. Even after he died and the family moved on somewhere, the Amagiri Clan still maintained it and my mother had decided to move here. Though, it looks like someone has been taking care of the place."

"So, aren't you going to open the gate?"

"Nah, I don't want to run the risk of someone who knows that this place is supposed to be vacant thinking that I had come back here."

"So, how're you doing to….?"

Before Yu-Long could finish, Kensei had leaped on the other side of the gate without any issues at all and landed on the ground with his hands in his pocket.

"Like that," Kensei said with a confident smirk. "To be honest, I enter like this all the time anyway."

Kensei then started to head in the direction of the pond thinking to find out the terrible condition that the fish who lived in there would be in. However, he was surprised to find that the fishes in the pond where in pristine health as a number of them swam towards him as if noticing that their owner had returned.

"It looks as if someone has been feeding the fishes as well."

After saying that, Kensei started to head in the direction of the front door and he started to reach his hand around in a hidden part of the ground and located a key for the front door. Inserting the key inside of the lock, he turned it and entered the home through the front door. As soon as he entered the room, he closed the door behind him in a quick manner. Once he entered the house, Kensei found himself taking in the homely atmosphere that one will expect from their own.

No dust. No smell. Inside the room, it looked as if it were maintained and cleaned as if people had been living inside the home. Seeing that there was no one inside of the home, Kensei has taken off the white cloak that he has been given and threw it onto the couch. After seeing no need for him to continue being around his neck, Yu-Long had jumped off and landed on the couch with the cloak.

"I'll wait here until you are finished with what you need to do."

Yu-Long had informed as Kensei started to head upstairs to the second floor, then he walked down the corridor leading to his bedroom. Stepping inside, it was like the rest of the house, it was cleaned, not that it was like that even before he left. Kensei was almost tempted to lay down in his bed, but he didn't think that it was the correct thing for him to do right now.

He later glanced in the direction of his nightstand and noticed three different photos; one of them was of him and a pink-haired girl whose hair almost looked like a sakura flower around the same age as himself playing inside of the garden outside; and the second was of him and a younger girl looked at least a year or two younger than him with golden blonde hair and matching eyes dressed in a miko uniform, but the most notable being the nine-tailed fox tails and ears on her.

Seeing those photos, he smiled a bit before heading in the direction of his closet and had pulled out a change of clothing as his current ones couldn't be referred to as "clothing" anymore. Once he finished getting everything that he needed to bring with him and taking a bath to clean off all the dirt and blood off him, Kensei was prepared to head to the Ise Grand Shrine dedicated to the Chief-God located in the City of Ise, the Mie Prefecture of Japan.

* * *

Moments later, after traveling around, Kensei and Yu-Long found themselves walking down the road leading in the direction of the Ise Grand Shrine. Shortly before arriving there, he stopped at a concession stand nearby were as promised he bought a snack for himself and Yu-Long; the latter was still chewing on it from inside of his cloak.

Seeing this caught the attention of the people around him who started to wonder what was wrapped around his neck as he continued to walk down the street.

"Yu-Long, I think that you are attracting attention."

Kensei said in a tone low enough for just the dragon to hear him.

"…If anyone asks…just tell them that it's your…pet…ferret…."

Yu-Long managed to speak in-between eating the snack bought for him by Kensei, thus making him realize just how much this dragon liked eating. This odd stares continued until making it in the direction of the Ise Grand Shrine where the steps leading there and found several hundred-year-old cedar trees planted with Kensei being able to sense the mystical powers radiating around him. Kensei could also see several patrons who came to visit the shrine to pray and show their gratitude. Though, he noticed that there was an odd presence in the air.

"So, where…is the shrine located?"

"There are two shrines here where are two different deities are worshiped. One of them being where the Chief-God. And the other where Toyouke-Ōmikami, the goddess of agriculture and industry. So, it is customary to visit both shrines whenever visiting. Both shrines are also torn down and rebuilt every twenty years per ancient Shinto tradition."

Kensei explained as he continued heading to the first shrine that he needed to head towards passing through all the people who were doing their own business. To Naikū, the Inner Shrine.

* * *

Once Kensei arrived there, he witnessed a lot of people passing by and perform the usual procedures that were a natural custom. Such as bowing his head before passing each tori gate. Before he noticed it, Kensei made it to the inner shrine where there were a lot of shrine priests and priestess working on their duties. Though, it was just them remaining in the area and no one else.

"That's weird. There should be more people here."

"…do you think something happened?"

After noticing his presence, one of the Shinto priestesses informed a priest of his presence and an older man in his 40s' to 50s'. He stared at the young child with a generous and kind look.

"I apologize," he said in a tone matching his generous tone. "But, due to some inconveniences, we are not letting people enter this part of the shrine."

"Is the Chief-God in a bad mood today?"

Kensei asking the question in that specific manner caused the priest to glance at him in shock along with the rest of the priestesses who were around him. It would mean that he wasn't just a normal patron.

"Who are you, child?"

"It would like to meet the current Supreme Priestess of the Shrine, Sayaka Hakurei-sama."

"I asked you a question."

Holding his hand out, revealing the katana sheathed due to the movement of the cloak causing the shine priests and priestesses preparing for a fight against him. Though Kensei didn't reach for the katana, instead he reached in his pocket and pulled out an object from his pocket.

"For certain reasons, I won't tell you my name. But, I'm sure that you can remember this."

Kensei held out a silver medallion that had a unique symbol engraved on it, which depicted the rising sun. It acts as the renown symbol of Japan on one side, but on the other side was the symbol of the Amagiri Clan. Seeing it in his hands caused the people around him to lower their guard and become shocked.

"I-I-I recognize that medallion."

The older male was shocked about seeing it in his hands and came to a sudden realization, this also caused all the people around him to lower their guard in shock.

"I was wondering what the commotion was, but I'm surprised to see you here," a sudden voice arrived on the scene. "A lot of people were in shock after hearing that not just Sakura-san, a member of that Bold Trio vanished without a trace at the same time as her son."

Being them was a woman in her 40s' with short black hair and dressed in formal wear meant for someone of their status. In her presence, the others stopped and bowed their heads in respect. Kensei recalled meeting her once in the past during a visit and recognized her as the supreme priestess of the Ise Grand Shrine. And Sayaka gave all of them a single signal that meant that they could go back to their usual work.

"It is alright, he and his guest may enter the main shrine hall."

Hearing her remark caused him to realize that she knew of Yu-Long's presence, but he wasn't surprised about it at all. Kensei bowed his head and started to walk forward into the inner shrine that was in front of him.

"Are you sure that it is fine for him to enter the shrine where one of our sacred treasures are?"

"I don't have any reason to doubt that child at all. All of the other clans who had worshiped the Shinto Gods have high hopes for that child, this includes inheriting the hopes of his deceased brethren. From birth, his potential had also been recognized by the people of the Amagiri Clan and even two certain gods started to become interested in him after he started training."

Sayaka replied in a tone that displayed her faith, before dropping into a more serious one as she thought about what was said about what his future would entail.

* * *

Once Kensei entered the inner shrine, a wooden built shrine that been built by experts and whose floor was also polished. Though the first thing that he noticed most was the ornate bluish dark mirror that reflected the light on its reflective surface. It wasn't a normal mirror, as it released an almost unbelievable sacred presence, which he could sense as soon as he entered the shrine. Even Yu-Long could sense the presence that it was releasing.

"What is that?"

"In the Shinto Faction, there are three different ones referred to as the Imperial Regalia of Japan or Three Sacred Treasures whichever you prefer, which represents three different virtues. All three of them are said to be a similar existence to the sacred gear," he explained. "The mirror enshrined in front of us is known as Yata-no-Kagami, the Eight Span Mirror, which represents wisdom. It is most known as being used to attract the attention of the Chief-God, Amaterasu-Ōmikami, the Goddess of the Sun."

"You just said that they are similar to Sacred Gears. How so?"

"All three of the sacred treasures are items with powerful abilities imbued in them. Also aside from one of them, both of them were forged by the Shinto gods."

"What about the other two?"

"Yasakani-no-Magatama, the Eight Shaku Curved Jewel, which represents benevolence is kept within the Kashiko-dokoro, the central shrine of the Three Palace Sanctuaries at the Tokyo Imperial Palace. And Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi, the Sword of the Gathering Clouds that represent valor. From what I heard, Murakumo broke and it was taken to someone to be repaired."

Kensei has explained as he removed the white cloak that was around him causing Yu-Long to come from around his neck and floated next to him. It revealed that he was dressed in a black gakuran uniform with the blazer unbuttoned showing the blue undershirt that has his first name as a kanji meaning "Sword Saint".

He took the medallion and placed it on the ground displaying the symbol of the Amagiri Clan in front of him. Yu-Long stared at him with a curious look as Kensei stood in inside of the light that was being projected by the Yata-no-Kagami.

"Yu-Long, I would rather you not see this, as it is embarrassing," Kensei said in a tone that displayed how much it would be embarrassing for him causing the dragon king to become curious. "If Amaterasu-sama is in a bad room, then this is the easiest way to get her attention."

"So, what am I supposed to do?"

"You'll know in a second," Kensei replied as he turned around facing the mirror before sighing out loud. _"Come on, let's just get this over with."_

Once he finishing that final thought, Kensei started to dance in an embarrassing manner causing the dragon king to stare at him in a confusing manner wondering why he was dancing like that. He continued watching all the terrible movement that came from the young child, despite him being skilled in combat, Kensei knew that he had no skill at all in dancing. Seeing this caused Yu-Long begin starting to crack up into a smile before going into full-blown laughter that echoed across the room.

"Hahahahahahahaha!"

Yu-Long has lost it and started to laugh uncontrollably as if he had grown into full-size his laugh began passing through the walls of the shrine. The laughter of the dragon king started echoing across the area causing all of the people around them to wonder what it was. Reacting to the dance of Kensei and laughter of the Dragon King, the Yata-no-Kagami started shining with a brilliant light that stretched across the entire shrine turning it into almost a bright white void. Radiating from the room was an almost overwhelming godlike aura and a voice started to come from the mirror, which blinks with bright light with every word. Though due to the light that was shining from the mirror, just the silhouette of a woman could be seen.

{Uhhh. Who is attempting to contact me? I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to be visited by anyone for a while. I'm also not in the mood for someone to be contacting me using…huh?}

A somber female voice came from the mirror. And as if it were a video call, the woman could also peer inside of the inner shrine and witnessed the object that was laying on the floor and Yu-Long who continued laughing. This made her all the more confused as there shouldn't have been a dragon here.

{That's the medallion belonging to the Amagiri Clan…I gave it to….} she said in a confused tone. {…and isn't that the Mischievous Dragon, Yu-Long? Where did you get that medallion?}

"Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!"

She didn't get a response as Yu-Long continued laughing for whatever reason, but she later heard the soft sound from the other person inside of the room.

"I did it for Claire. I did it for Alice. I did it for Zane. I did it for Hisui. I did it for Rui-chan. I did it for Abigail."

Kensei mumbled as if he had lost something important to him in doing that embarrassing dance.

It was apart of the legend were Amaterasu who fell into a depression due to the actions of her younger brother who killed one of her attendants and hid inside of a cave. This resulted in the God of Mirrors, Ishikori-dome-no-Mikoto to create the Yata-no-Kagami and hung it in front of the cave alongside Yasakani-no-Magatama, then danced in front of the cave to gain her attention and get her outside of the cave.

{Huh. T-That voice. Is that….?}

Turning their attention to Kensei who sat in the corner with an almost dead look in his eyes as he recalled all the dance moves that he just did.

{Kensei?! Kensei Amagiri?! I thought that you died….! …this is wonderful!}

Instead of speaking in a somber tone the woman talking to him spoke in a joyful tone catching his attention.

"Hello, again. Amaterasu-sama," Kensei bowed his head before snapping towards Yu-Long. "Okay, I stopped the dance! You can stop laughing!"

Despite him shouting at Yu-Long, the dragon king continued laughing in an almost uncontrollable manner.

* * *

―Ten Minutes later

It took almost ten minutes for Yu-Long to stop laughing, but in that period, Kensei explained the situation to Amaterasu. He noticed that the young woman wasn't at all happy about the situation that occurred in her faction and containing the amount of fury that started to build up.

{I see? For someone like Sakura to die in such a manner is unforgivable. To think that humans and devils would do this under the noses of everyone in this faction.}

"It is possible for anyone to do these kinds of things under the nose of the Shinto gods?"

Yu-Long questioned in a manner befitting his title as the youngest among the Dragon Kings.

{You know well enough that gods don't see every single thing that occurs in our faction. It's also not like we can interfere in the business of humans all the time unless it endangered the faction as a whole. It would be better to inform a member of the many Shinto clans who worship or those have received different blessings. I did receive a message from chichi about one of the islands around Japan vanished without a trace a couple of years ago. I didn't think that the island would be involved in all this.}

Amaterasu had replied in a tone that displayed the anger that she held towards the people who such atrocities in her faction.

"I was possibly due to the barrier that covered the place. The people who were there before attempted to destroy it several times, but it never budged."

{If it is similar to a bounded field like the rating games played by devils, then it would make sense that their presences couldn't be sensed since it is kept inside a separate space. If I'm correct, then those people would need to use a nearby magic-circle to enter the island. Kensei if possible, were you able to tell if they took you somewhere outside of Japan?}

"From what I could remember, a bunch of their mercenaries kidnapped me after leaving from my dad's house. I think that we were still in Japan since we didn't travel that far. A friend of mine believes that different teleportation magic circles were placed around different locations as a number of the people there were from different parts of the world and even some supernatural races. Amaterasu-sama, I came here to ask for your help in locating one of those magic circles in Japan."

{…and if I disagree?}

"What do you mean?"

{I'm sure that you know that the Amagiri Clan forged an illustrious reputation and accomplished several feats for the Shinto with a number of them even receiving blessings from several gods. Even the feats that your progenitor accomplished are still talked about as a legend and if he had chosen to do so, he could have become a god due to his virtuous nature and pure soul, but he felt content with his human life. And after all this time, you're all that is left and as the Chief-God of the Shinto Faction, I cannot let you die in a fight that you can't win.}

After hearing Amaterasu give her analytical explanation caused Kensei to stand up from his position and stared at the mirror with a confident look on his face.

"You're right, I am the Last Amagiri. As such, I inherited all of the Amagiri-ryū that my clan had invented and I must nurture those skills for the Shinto Factions. I'm sure that a lot of people from the Five Principle Clans would agree with me on that," he replied in a manner that sounded as if he were preparing to follow what Amaterasu had told him. "But, I have another obligation that is just as important. And that's keeping the promise that I made with that little guy who placed all her faith and trust in me…and I promised that no matter what even if it meant going against the gods, I would be there for her. I made that same promise to my friends that no matter what, I would have their backs."

Hearing that from him caused Yu-Long to acknowledge the young man, while Amaterasu remained silent for a bit before she started laughing lightly.

{Of course, I expected that answer. If you had just agreed with what I had told you, then you wouldn't have been the child of Sakura and Tetsuo. Even in the past, neither of them would have abandoned anyone to save themselves. Now that I've heard your answer, I will grant my assistance.}

"Thank You, Amaterasu-sama."

Kensei thanked her with an energetic smile as he bowed his head.

{I will inform my Yatagarasu to look around the area for these magic circles and locate you when he discovers it, I'll also have some spirits who have become bored as of late help.}

"Is it really alright for the Chief-God to do something like this? We heard from Kensei that it was possible that the Five Principal Clans would assist him in saving those children."

{That is true that some clans believe that all manner of impurities requires to be removed from the families to maintain them. And it is unfortunate to say that it is true. Say for example that a certain clan that has formed a contract with a god or spirit, the birth of a child born with a special power. Even though that power could become formidable if groomed and trained, but that same power could go against the contract formed with the god or spirit causing an eventual rift if it isn't taken care of. …resulting in the child being removed from their clan. However, removing the child from the clan is one thing…taking their life afterward is another.}

"That is true, I heard about the same thing happening every once in a while."

{Its a shame that they don't have anywhere to turn to. Due to their unique power, no other clan would attempt to accept them in fear of ruining their pacts with their god or spirit. In the end, it would result in them being taken in up by some shady group.}

"A place to go huh….?"

Kensei mumbled as he stood up from off the ground.

{Are you leaving?}

"Yes, there are some things that I need to prepare before heading back to Hagun Island."

{Oh, there is something that would help you. I'll prepare everything on my end, I'll send a messenger to you when it is confirmed.}

Amaterasu said again in a gentle manner causing Kensei to become more upbeat about the situation.

"Let's go, Yu-Long. Before leaving, I'll visit the Gekū Shrine and pay my respects to Toyouke-Ōmikami."

"Alright."

Saying their final goodbyes to Amaterasu, Kensei and Yu-Long started to leave the inner shrine with the light and godlike aura that covered the room started to fade along with the shine around Yata-no-Kagami.

{Saving children even if it goes against the wishes of others, Kensei, you truly are an amazing child.}

Those were her final words as the light around the sacred mirror vanished, with Amaterasu beginning to fulfill the promise that she made.

* * *

Meanwhile, in front of the cabin built on the hidden mountain covered in mist and located in China, Kensei jumped off of Yu-Long's head with a smirk on his face. Both Sun Wukong and Xuanzang were standing outside the cabin already taking note of them coming back. Leaving from giving his respects to Toyouke-Ōmikami, Kensei took Yu-Long to different places and as promised let him as his fill-in cuisine from Japan resulting in great happiness for the youngest dragon king.

"I'm back."

Kensei called out in an energetic manner landing on the ground without damage or injury causing Xuanzang to laugh lightly.

"I see that your injuries are fine. Since if you were to do that while injured, then I would have to tend to far more internal injuries."

Xuanzang stated as he glanced at Kensei with a slight smile on his face.

"So how did it go."

"It went fine…no it went awesome. Amaterasu-sama is having her Yatagarasu and some other spirits looking for the magic circles used to enter Hagun Island."

"That's great. What do you plan on doing for the entire time? Do you plan on waiting for the Chief-God?"

"That would be dumb just waiting around with any form of preparation first. And so, I was wondering if…."

Kensei replied in a more nervous manner causing Sun Wukong to smirk in an almost cheerful manner that would be typical for someone his age.

"…you could train me. Though the guy that caught me is a lot weaker compared to my mom, I could tell from that short exchange that he was a lot skilled with a sword than I am and has far more actual combat experience than me. And even if I were to train myself, there is no guarantee at all that I would be able to fight him in a fair fight…or if he uses the same sneak attack that he did on my mom. I'm not an idiot, I know that I have a long way to go when it comes to being a martial artist and warrior," Kensei said clenching his fist. "However, there are people I have to protect, so I'll continue fighting even if it means that I end up making the entire Underworld my enemy."

Hearing that from Kensei caused Sun Wukong to smile. It wasn't the kind of tone from someone who would turn their anger towards an entire species just because of the mistakes caused by just a small number of people. But, it had to come to him having to fight against the entire underworld if it meant protecting the people close to him.

"I was planning on training you on how to fight if you were to ask me. I never met anyone with this level of talent for fighting, while also having such a kind heart."

"Awesome," Kensei said in an excited tone as his eyes started to sparkle almost like a…no like a child inside of a candy store. "What am I going to learn first?"

Sun Wukong almost laughed at how energetic Kensei got about this.

"I wish that brat descendant of mine were at least half like you. But, first things first, I will be teaching you about how to fight from scratch. I thought that since you can already to use ki, I'll teach you about senjutsu. And since it would be a great match for training you in both body and spirit, I will also be teaching you Chinese Kenpō. Before that, we'll start with instructing you about senjutsu by sitting in a meditative position, then silently release your ki, while focusing on the natural ki around you. That is the basic to learning senjutsu. It will also be better for you to learn at a further distance away from other people."

"I thought that there was a risk in gathering the malice in the world."

"There is, but if it gets to that point. I'll just bonk you on the head."

Sun Wukong replied in a joking manner, but it caused Kensei to laugh nervously not wanting to get a bonk on the head from him for various reasons.

"Alright, then let's get this started."

Kensei said after returning to his energetic tone and went to a place further away from Sun Wukong, Xuanzang, and Yu-Long. He took a seat down with his legs cross and his hands-on placed on the side, then begun releasing his ki from his entire body and started to focus on the natural ki around him. Seeing him starting to train caused Xuanzang to laugh cheerfully.

"Well, looks like things went as you wanted Sun."

"Oh oh oh~ well, I thought that it would interesting to train the young lad," Sun Wukong said as he returned next to Xuanzang and started at Kensei as he began focusing on learning senjutsu. "Though there a sacred gear that resides within him, his overall combat potential is something to be awed at. However, within that, there is also this unknown feeling that I can sense from him, but I can't quite place my finger on it."

"What would that be?"

"I don't know. When we first found him, Yu-Long said that he had this odd scent. I guess, that it will be revealed during his training," Sun Wukong said in a cheerful tone before noticing something and stood up. "Excuse me."

As if he teleported, the monkey king vanished and appeared in front of Kensei smacking him on his head causing Kensei to shout out loud in pain. It was noticed that Kensei started to gather some malice around him and as his instructor, Sun Wukong intervened.

"Ouch, I got it," Kensei said as he rubbed his head before staring at the ground. "Don't worry, guys I'll be back as soon as I finish this training. Claire, please give up."

* * *

On Hagun Island, everyone had been informed about the "death" of Kensei and it caused various people around them to become shocked and confused about it. For his friends such as Zane who viewed him as his best friend, it felt as if a piece of themselves had just been lost. However, there was someone among them who felt as if their heart was ripped out of their heart in the harshest manner possible.

In the home where both Alice and Claire now resides alone, Alice stared into the lone room where the youngest resident laid with a saddened look. It was Claire who hugged onto her legs with a lifeless look in her eyes. Not a single word has come from her mouth in the past two days since Kensei had left and hadn't even left the house.

"Is she still there?"

Hisui questioned with the same kind of worried look as Alice.

Knowing the feelings that Claire had towards Kensei, Hisui would make it a habit to visit whenever she could, but even she couldn't get a single word out of her.

"Yes, she hadn't said or done anything after hearing about Kensei. Claire had just gotten out of bed to take care of the basic necessities like going to the bathroom or eating."

"She's almost like a robot."

"No matter what I say, Claire just remains in this emotionless state. And I don't know what to do."

Alice stated after hearing what Hisui had told her, both older girls attempted to do a lot of things to get Claire to give them a response, but nothing worked. It didn't take either of them long at all to realize the reasons.

"Being unaware of the fate of her parents, she expected the worse and concluded that they must be dead," Hisui said in a saddened manner. "Meeting Ken Ken somewhat filled in the void in her heart and it made her life on Hagun Island manageable. He became what you could call a linchpin for her life, and now that linchpin is lost, she is having a hard time finding any reason to continue."

Hearing Hisui respond to her like that caused Alice to stare at her with a surprised look on her face.

"I didn't expect to hear that kind of thing from you Hisui."

"Humph," Hisui pouted after hearing that from Alice. "Don't think that I'm just a cute face, I'll have you know that my Kaa-chan is an important person among the nekomata. And as her daughter, I'm awesome as well."

"You know, you are being casual about this. I mean, we were all shocked after hearing about Kensei, but you're acting the same as before."

Everything that Alice had said was correct, ever since that incident, Hisui has been acting the same as before as if she didn't care about what she heard from Taro.

"Oh, that's because I don't believe that Kensei is dead."

"Huh."

"Everyone is too used to losing the people that are close to them to even maintain the sliver of hope that they are still alive in fear of discovering that person is dead. I mean, this is Kensei we're talking about. If anyone can survive through anything these guys can dish out, it is him."

Alice was amazed by the faith that Hisui had in Kensei and it caused her to become jealous, as she was wrapped in the despair of hearing that Kensei had died from Taro.

"You're right, I should have had more faith in Kensei."

"Of course, I have faith in him."

Hisui replied with a bright smile on her face with Alice returning that smile.

 _"Kensei if you are indeed alive, then please make it back."_

Within the darkness that Claire had been in beforehand after encountering that male's voice, he continued to lay down in the same fetal position with the same dead look.

"I shouldn't have been born. Those around me, the people that I care about all end of getting hurt."

Claire said in a solemn tone.

"If not, then Kaa-san and Tou-san wouldn't have gotten attacked. And everyone in her peerage wouldn't have…."

[You shouldn't talk like that.]

She heard the same male from before with Claire not responding at all with the unknown male still as a formless mass of light staring down at her with a solemn voice.

"What would you understand about it? Losing everyone important to you."

[Everyone experiences loss no matter who they are or what species they are. No matter what, even if you weren't born, your parents would have still been targeted by those who believed in the current imbalance. Instead, you should focus on what your birth signified.]

Hearing that from him caused Claire to lift her head in response to his statement.

"What would that be?"

[A female devil who was supposed to hate exorcists who believe in god. A male exorcist who believed that them exorcising devils should be their just purpose in life. Instead of hating one another due to their differing alliances, your mother and father saw something in one another. And that was a love that transcended race and teaching that they were taught from a young age. I don't know the fate of your parents, but I do know that neither of them regrets having you as their daughter. And if they could do it over again, even if it were to end in them losing their lives and state, they would do it again. There was an incredible person who grew to love and respect, whose love and benevolence knew no limit. If they were still alive and could witness such pure love, I wonder what kind of look that they would have made.]

"…is that right?"

Claire questioned as she looked down saddened about everything that had happened as of late.

"I know that there is a great chance that my parents died, even then I could tell from the look that was on Oba-san's face that something had happened. I lost everyone that I came to know and loved. …and now, I even lost Nii-chan too."

[…even if that is true. Even if you did lose the one you called your older brother. Do you believe that this Kensei would stop if he were to lose you?]

"…huh?"

[As I said, I've been watching on the events of your life while within you like this. Even after losing everyone in his clan and even his mother, he continued to push forward no matter what instead of despairing. All for the sake of the people who he grew to have a connection with. I've seen a lot of humans like that from my home, there was a lot of him who did despair of the loss of their important person. But, in the end, some of them stood up and they pushed forward continuing to live as they would want them to. I have also lost precious friends during a certain incident a long time ago caused by the leaders of another side and I did lose myself a little. But, it was then that I realized that stopping would just smear their memories and so I continued fighting with their memories within my heart until the very end.]

Hearing this man's heartfelt statement caused the life in Claire's eyes to return bit by bit.

[I won't tell you that it is wrong to shed tears or to despair, but I just want you to know one thing.]

The mass of light soon started to take shape into a physical form with their hand extending towards Claire and it progressed to where the light turned into the skin as if the light particles were cracking apart revealing his physical form.

Instead of being a monster like she thought, it was a young man who looked around the same age as her father, but with a more muscular build with silver hair and clear blue eyes that looked almost like an ocean; he donned a gleaming white armor that looked almost heavenly without armor covering his arms, a clear white sash wrapped around his waist that kept portions of his lower armor covered. What surprised her most were the ten angel wings that sprouted from his back.

[If the time ever comes where you stand up and fight, I will grant you the power that you need. And when the time comes where you lose, I'll grant you whatever advice you require.]

"Y-You're a…. Why would you…?"

[I lost a lot of my friends and comrades during the Great War, but I continued to fight for the sake of Heaven and the Human World. In the end, I lost my life defending my comrades that remained from a certain pair of dragons. Despite being close to death, I still wanted to be of some use for the goal of god in creating some kind of miracle for the Human World no matter the form that I took.] He said as if reminiscing about his past. [However, not once would I have thought that My host would be a half-devil who has talent and potential in demonic power. You are an abnormal existence who possess an angel within you. My name is Radueriel, the Nemesis Angel. So, what will you do partner?]

After sitting down on the couch, both Alice and Hisui heard the springs of the bed and noticed someone starting to walk outside of the room. Once they turned around, both of them noticed Claire standing in front of him with the life in her eyes starting to return to normal.

"Claire."

Exciting to see that she was alright, Alice started to rush towards her as fast as she could. Alice soon wrapped her arms around Claire after seeing that she was alright. Getting off of the couch, Hisui also approached them as a smile graced her face.

"Are you alright?"

"I made a decision."

Claire replied to the question that Hisui had asked, the latter noticed a different change in the younger girl aside from the tone different her usual cheerful one.

"…a decision?"

Shine!

Several light particles started to gather around Claire's hand and started to take physical form as a brilliant white angelic knife with a blue blade and light traced across it. Seeing this caused Alice to become shocked while Hisui not looking as surprised as her.

Cut!

In an almost skilled manner, Claire spun the knife around in her hand and moved it towards her long hair cutting down short. This stunt caused both Alice and this time even Hisui to stare at the girl in a confused state. Claire soon summoned flames using her demonic power and burned away the hair that she cut off watching as it turned into ashes as if burning away another part of herself.

"I'm done crying. And being the one needing to be saved."

Claire said in a more determined tone as she stared at both Alice and Hisui with a stare matching her tone. And it just took that single short sentence to realize that they weren't looking at the same girl anymore.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the seventh chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, this was without a doubt the longest chapter that I've written. A lot of things happened in this chapter, but first was Claire and the other being informed about the "death" of Kensei with their reactions being what you would expect. Next Kensei had the official meeting with the living legends from the Journey to the West with his reaction being what you would expect. After hearing about the situation, Sun Wukong told him that it would be best to inform the Shinto Gods, which is the unofficial arrival of the Chief-God Amaterasu who said that she would provide her assistance.**

 **We later returned to Hagun Island where we see the effects that Kensei's "death" had on the younger girl along with Claire figuring out the identity of the person she had been talking to and it is a…angel sealed in a sacred gear. I thought about this since it would be symbolic as her mother was a pure-blooded devil from the Underworld and her father was an Exorcist on the side of Heaven. It will also give her more of an edge against devils sent after her. Its abilities and name will be revealed in the future. Also, Radueriel is the name of an actual angel. Claire also displays her growth and gaining the will to fight. The chapter ends with Kensei beginning his training with Sun Wukong.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah,** **Minako** **, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr**


	8. Training with the Monkey King

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Hellspam: Yea, it just showed how much everyone cared about Kensei. I thought that since it was among the Shinto Faction, it would be good for one of the gods to appear at least once. I wanted to do at least a single FanFiction where the OC had a goddess in their harem. I don't think that I heard one doing it.**

 **Sonic: Thanks.**

 **Kalashnikov ak47: Thanks.**

 **OmnipotentHeroPauk: I wasn't planning on that many people. Just either 13 or 14.**

* * *

 **Training with the Monkey King**

―One Week Later

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

Kensei was dressed in a Chinese armor designed after the one born by Sun Wukong in the past, which weighted training gear that weighs at least 50lbs each or less each. At first, he started by running around the location while dressed in training gear with sweat dripping from his forehead while continuing to run at a mild fast pace. It has been at least fifteen minutes since he started his run while paying attention to his breathing and building up both his strength and stamina. He was in an unknown mountainous area in China, where there were rock formations like stone pillars around the area.

This was a place that Sun Wukong brought him to using his golden cloud and explained that there weren't that many people who came to that location thus making it the perfect place to train. Though Kensei wanted to move straight into combat training, he was informed that he needed this basic training before moving onto learning Chinese Kenpō and couldn't move on without learning the basics first.

"In a fight, you should always be sure to pay attention to your stamina and pace."

Sun Wukong stated while smoking from the pipe in his hand and instructing him at the same time as he kept up with Kensei almost as if he were walking instead of jogging.

"Not watching your stamina in a fight and just making excess moves could be fatal in a fight, especially when you are up against multiple and the other high-level beings in the world. The same could be said about all the moves that you make when attacking. I made a note of that after all the time that you spent practicing all by yourself. To use the least amount moves, while bringing out their full potential. For you, a swordsman at nature would be able to bring out the greatest speed and strength of a single slash."

"Huh? Sounds familiar."

"Hmm. Did you hear something like that before?"

Sun Wukong questioned as he glanced at Kensei.

"Yes, just once before."

That was all that Kensei said to Sun Wukong, but the Monkey King didn't go any further as it seemed almost like he didn't want to speak any further about it. Kensei continued to run forward with his instructor following him at a similar pace without any effort. It was difficult enough for him to run with the weight of the training equipment that weighed him down. So, he needed to focus on doing the task at hand.

* * *

Finishing his jog around the area, he moved to the other conditioning exorcizes such as doing the various kinds of push-ups that would build up strength and endurance. Next training―

"…ha."

After Kensei finished jogging around, Sun Wukong had told him that he could take off the training equipment that he had been wearing the entire time. Each of them made a notable 'thud' on the ground after he put them on the ground as a further testament to their weight. Once he finished taking off the headband that was wrapped around his forehead, Kensei started to stretch his arms and legs with a notable sound being made.

 _"Hmm, this kind of reminds me of the whole weight training from Dragon Ball,"_ Kensei thought as he stretched his arms. _"I mean, I can do almost half the things that they do…aside from the flying, transformation and blowing up a planet on a whim. I mean, not that I want to…but…."_

While that thought was entering his mind, Sun Wukong on the sidelines had pulled out a strand of hair from off of his golden fur. He soon blew it into the hair letting it drift off until it landed on the ground, it soon reacted and then turned into a brown-colored clone.

"Okay, moving onto the next part of the training. I want you to attempt to hit this clone."

"Huh? …Sure."

Kensei replied as he stood in front of the brown-colored clone of Sun Wukong.

He knew from various stories that this was among his most known technique, which was creating a clone from a stand of his hair using youjutsu, a kind of magic unique to youkai. Kensei fought against one of those clones as a sparring partner and all of the ones before were white. Though doing what he was instructed, he launched his fist forward hitting the clone in the chest and noticed the difference.

"Huh? This feels like hitting the dirt."

Kensei said as he pulled his fist and noticing that it was punching the ground barehanded.

"For this clone, I added in earth-based ki in creating this one granting it attributes of the earth, though I made it a lot softer, this clone will be a little stronger."

"Hmm, manifesting ki as a different element. Among the Amagiri-ryū there are ki techniques that can manifest it as different elements like lightning or fire. So, is this just a sparring match or training."

"Both. This is a conditioning training meant for the external variant of Chinese kenpō that I taught you, which I am sure that you recall it relies on physiological strength such as the hardness of one's muscles and bones. For this sparring match, I want you to use the basic martial art that I taught you the other day."

"But, wouldn't that damage my fragile hands and legs."

Bonk!

"Ow! I was joking!"

Kensei cried as Sun Wukong bonked him on the head using his Ruyi Jingu Bang causing the ten-year-old to put both his hands on his head and felt a slight bump. It wasn't with enough force to cause lasting damage, but it was enough for a light punishment. Their retinue further attributed their student-teacher relationship with Sun Wukong shaking his head from side to side.

"You've been hanging out with that youthful dragon who retired early too much," Sun Wukong said after dipping the ash off his pipe. "Those parts of you are about as fragile as the scales and claws of a young dragon. But a lot like those rambunctious beings, at times you have to hit them against a harder substance to strengthen them if you want to improve them. I believe people would call this method Tiesha Zhang or Iron Palm Training. I also modified this clone so that it will be on the same level of skill as you."

"Sure thing, I was looking forward to actually…."

Before Kensei could finish, he heard something move in his direction and avoided a sharp kick by jumping back suddenly. It had come from the rock clone who generated a strong wind that caused a light scrape on his cheek. He regained his footing and noticed the injury that formed on his cheek. Noted that reaction speed caused Sun Wukong to rub his chin with an impressed look.

"I know the risk of injuries in doing this exercise, which is why I want you to focus on using senjutsu to strengthen your bodies' natural healing abilities when injured too much."

"Got it!"

Kensei replied after getting into a stance, not from his natural stance from the Amagiri-ryū, but one from the art he learned from Sun Wukong. He then rushed at the earth clone of his instructor laughing a hard strike at the clone who deflected it by raising its knee, then retaliated using another sharp punch from the side. Kensei blocked it by crossing his arms in front of him, but the impact forced him back a bit. The clone didn't stop and started to launch a barrage of different strikes at him each of them originated from Chinese martial arts.

Despite blocking most of the strikes, Kensei could feel the force behind each of them, which had forced him back more and more. The last strike launched broke his guard and seeing that he was wide open, the clone launched a strike at him. Though this was planned, as he followed the direction of the hit, which was aimed for his chest in an attempt at winding him. Kensei avoided the strike at the last moment by moving his body to the side using the minimal movement, then retaliated using a sharp punch to its face.

This impact caused the clone to falter a bit, which caused Kensei to smirk a bit, especially after a small crack had formed on its forehead. Though the impact also caused a slight bruise on his knuckles.

"Your attacks strong, but not as strong as the monsters that I fought daily!"

Kensei called out as he charged forward at the clone before he could recover, then jumped forward performing a flying kick at it. After it recovered, the clone seeing his attacked prepped for a counter, as a flying kick would be a difficult move to cancel in mid-air. Or that's what it thought. Seeing the clone prepping for a counter instead of an assault caused Kensei to switch his posture in mid-air, then using a unique maneuver, he fixed his posture in and used his other foot to strike the clone using a downward kick strengthened using the momentum he gained.

This attack made a dent as it forced the clone's head downward and forcing it to its knees.

"Oh~"

Sun Wukong was impressed by the strike and maneuver along with the impact that it caused his clone.

 _"Not many people can correct themselves in mid-air. I know I lowered its combat abilities so it would be more or less near the same level, but that was an impressive maneuver. It must have been due to some innate combat instincts. Though, he wouldn't get cocky."_

As Kensei's head was still at the head of the clone, it reached his hand out and tightly gripped his knee so that he wouldn't be able to escape. Without much remorse, it launched him in the direction of one of the many pillars that were around them. Before his back could make contact with the pillar, he again fixed himself in the air and made it so that his feet would make contact with the vertical structure with the intent of kicking off of it. But, it didn't go as planned.

As soon as Kensei's feet made contact with the stone pillar, the clone had already moved with its fist balled and aimed at him. Without much choice, he swapped tactics and propelled himself off the pillar so that he would jump over the head of the clone before its attack could reach him. And the result of that was―

Crack!

The clone's fist had been embedded in the pillar to where it was up to its elbow and caused Kensei to grimace at the impact.

 _"Geez, if that were to make contact, then I would have been…. I don't know why, but I'm reminded about the time that Yamcha was impaled by Dr. Gero."_

Kensei thought as he landed on the ground, at the same time that the clone had moved his hand from the pillar and turned around to face him.

"So, are you holding some kind of grudge about being hit twice?"

Kensei questioned as he approached the clone while cracking his knuckles.

"…."

The clone didn't give a single response as he continued to approach Kensei.

Once both of them stood close enough to one another, Kensei threw the first attack, which the clone blocked by using its forearm. That alone signaled what was essentially a punch off between the two of them using punches and kicks in various ways. Of course, there were attacks that neither of them could block against, but the person who had the most damage, in the end, was Kensei, not the clone. Though using the advice from Sun Wukong, he used senjutsu to boost his bodies natural healing.

* * *

Even after several minutes, Kensei hasn't managed to defeat the clone, however, he did cause cracks that formed on its stone body.

"Hah~ Man, this thing is tough to take down."

Kensei said in a somewhat tired tone while continuing to maintain his fighting posture as he stared at the clone, which remained motionless in front of him. Despite being tired, he prepared himself for one final strike aimed at the clone, but before he could make contact―

Crack! Fall!

"Times up."

Before his fist could make contact, the clone said those first words as its body crumbled apart turned into dirt and caused Kensei to almost stumble forward. As soon as he regained his footing, he turned around to the one who created the clone.

"Oh, come on. I was getting ready to make a comeback."

"It's one thing to give training you're all, it's another thing to overwork yourself," Sun Wukong stated as he glanced in Kensei's direction. "But, I was impressed by how you could move like that in mid-flight. Was that also apart of the training that you underwent with your mother?"

"No, it was an aftereffect of training and experience," Kensei replied as he looked away as if it was embarrassing for him to answer face to face. "I won't go into much detail, but whether it was my mom or monsters that were a lot bigger than me, I kinda got used to being sent flying."

"Well, anyway, it was time for you to take a break. Did you forget what I told you?"

After hearing that question from Sun Wukong caused Kensei to sigh a little.

"After each conditioning exorcize take at least a ten to fifteen-minute break and if I wanted to train, then focuses on meditating to relieve mental stress and recover lost stamina."

Kensei replied as he noticed that the Monkey King wasn't wrong, as he couldn't move his legs even if he were to charge at the clone, then he wouldn't have been able to make any exaggerated moves. If he had attacked it, then if Sun Wukong hadn't stopped him, the clone would have knocked him out.

"I'm going to talk to Yu-Long and Xuanzang about something. You can take a break until I come back. Kintoun!"

Sun Wukong called out causing a golden cloud to appear out of nowhere, then jumped on top of it and rode off in the direction of Xuanzang's residence.

His departure left Kensei as the sole individual in the area causing him to let out a slightly tired sigh. He leaned up and looked up with his attention being aimed at the top of one of the stone pillars that were in front of him. It would be a steep climb with his legs the way they were now. After taking another breath, Kensei started to focus senjutsu using it to channel ki into his legs increasing the natural healing and circulation of blood. It took a while for him to get the comfortable feeling back in his legs, but Kensei was able to move around somewhat normal.

"Alright!"

Kensei said out loud as he jumped up and started to climb to the top of the pillar.

As soon as he reached the top, Kensei noticed that it was big enough for him to either sit to meditate or lie down and stare at the sky. He chose the latter and lied back down staring at the clouds and realized that this place was peaceful without a single sound aside from the wind blowing. Though that same silence caused several thoughts about what happened over the past week. However, there was one thing that had came to mind and that was all the people important to him who thought that he was possibly dead.

"I wouldn't be surprised if all of them thought that I was dead. It does happen a lot on that godforsaken island, but I can only guess how Claire if feeling about this."

That thought alone was enough to cause him to wander off in his previous thinking, he knew that Claire had been through a lot and loss several people who were important to her.

"First, her home is attacked by both devils and exorcists for some reaction and doesn't know if either of them is still alive. Then if that doesn't ruin someone's life, she was brought into that hellhole against her will," Kensei said as he sat up from off the pillar with a sad solemn look. "Claire…."

As her name left his mouth, Kensei's mind wondered off and recalled a memory from the past….

* * *

―Four months ago

Its been almost a day after being brought to Hagun Island and it was around that same time that he had lost his mother. Everything that Kensei had on him prior had been taken from him even things as minuscule as a photo had been taken from him. Even his old clothes that had been torn due to him struggling against all the people who had kidnapped them, then swapped out for the simple white clothing that he saw the others around him that provided the minimal level of protection.

Speaking of them, there were a lot of them who noticed his presence and realized that he was just brought to the island. However, neither of them approached him or made the slightest hint of wanting to be acquainted with him, the entire atmosphere was filled with depression as if all of them had already given up hope.

The main thing that he found a nuisance was the bracelet that they had fastened on his wrist and stared at it with an annoyed look.

"Those bastards said that this thing will be able to track my movements and that if I attempt to remove it then the feedback will kill me. If those bastards believe that I'm just going to remain on this island without a fight, then they have another thing…."

"*Sniff* *Sniff* Uhhh….Kaa-san…Tou-san…please come and get me."

Kensei heard the cries of a young girl nearby based on tone, but when he looked around the area, he was unable to see anyone around him who was crying. He noticed it was coming from behind a tree near the forested area and started to head in that same direction. Once Kensei made it to the source of all the crying, he realized that it was coming from a young girl who was hugging onto her legs. She looked to be at least a year younger than him dressed in a frilly black dress that looked to have been tailored; her grey-colored hair was tied in short twin tails.

Based on the number of tears that were on her dress, she looked to have been through a lot before, but he didn't know if it were before or after arriving here. Kensei took another step forward without noticing the small twig that was in front of his feet causing a slight snapping sound, which caught the young girl's attention.

"…huh? Who's there?"

The girl stood up in a panicked manner and moved away fro Kensei.

"…H-Hey, I'm not going to hurt you."

"L-Lies…you're a liar…," she said in an accusing manner. "…that's the same thing that those people told me just before bringing me here! They even attacked me and took everything that Kaa-san and Tou-san had given me!"

The girl continued moving away from Kensei when he made several attempts at getting closer to her. He soon stopped walking towards the girl after seeing the effect that it had on her. She shuffled away from him and moved to another tree and hugged onto her legs again, then started to cry. Seeing that caused Kensei to move towards the tree that she had been originally and took a seat. Not saying a single word, he sat down and listened to all of her cries.

"…I don't trust anyone…all the people who said that they'd help me turned out to be the ones wanting to hurt me! …so, I don't trust anyone anymore!"

She shouted out loud letting out her worries.

Kensei must have figured that the girl figured that he left or she just spoke out her mouth without caring if he had heard her not. He didn't know this girl or what she had been through, but it must have been terrible as it was enough for the girl to lose her faith in the people around her. However, there was one thing that Kensei did know. And that was living a life not trusting or believing in anyone was a terrible way to live.

 _"If what she said is true, then words alone won't be enough to gain her trust. Alright, then let's do something a bit more drastic,"_ Kensei thought as he stood back up and started to approach her. "So, what's your name?"

His question caused the girl to look up and stare at him not believing the sincere tone that has come from out his mouth.

"…no, a lot of people asked that came to question and attacked me! Just leave me alone!"

She shouted at him with a silverish aura radiating from her as if attempting to use it as a threat.

 _"…this presence. I think that I've felt something similar…is she a devil?"_

Kensei knew that the people who brought him here had taken him to a bunch of older looking devils and caused him to realize the similarities between them. However, he couldn't think of a reason why there would be a pure-blood devil in a place like this.

"Look, I'm not lying. I'm not going to hurt…."

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Just leave me alone!"

The girl had tears running down her cheeks as she shouted at him.

In response to that, the demonic power that covered her turned into wind blades that were all sent at him. Kensei realized that staying there wouldn't be safe and jumped backward before any of the wind blades were sent at him so that he couldn't get pelted. Once they were released at him, a lot of them was too fast for him to avoid fully causing several tears in his white shirt along with some wounds to open on him where some blood started to leak out. Kensei didn't stop and continued to focus on the direction of the wind blades so that he would at least be able to predict their path.

 _"Nothing too serious Kensei, it's just like predicting the path of a bullet."_

He said to himself as a reassurance.

It didn't seem odd to him that he learned how to dodge bullets by predicting their path. Kensei knew that the girl wasn't in the right state of mind to listen to reason so he needed to calm her down before saying anything else. Several wind blades were sent in his direction following the direction of the young girl's hand motions. Running in the direction of the young girl, Kensei started avoiding more and more wind blades by a hairsbreadth with just slight tears and wounds forming on him, but neither of them dealt him serious injuries.

Even though the girl wasn't in the right state of mind, she still was rational enough to realize that his actions were odd. All of the moves that he was making were strictly physical without any attempt at using any kind of magic.

 _"…what? He's dodging all the wind blades using just physical abilities. …wait didn't Tou-san mention something like this before?"_

'It's never a good idea to focus on just firing off random attacks, an opponent could use that chance to find even the slightest opening to counterattack.'

Recalling words from her father, the girl swiped her arm as if slashing a sword in both a vertical and horizontal. It resulted in two large wind blades being launched at Kensei, the latter had stood made it to a nearby tree, but he ceased all movement after noticing the two wind blades being sent at him. Before either of them could reach him, Kensei stopped moving and jumped back with enough force to send him flying backward.

Both wind blades had enough force to demolish the tree he was just standing near turning it into several splinters and sticks.

"Seriously, I didn't think that she could use an attack like that. If that would have hit me…."

Kensei grimaced about the chances of that attack hitting him.

"I can't deal with attacks like this without a…weapon."

The moment those words left his mouth, Kensei glanced to the side and noticed that at least one of the broken parts from the tree that resemble a bō staff. Seeing that he had armed himself, the girl held her hands out and a barrage of wind blades aimed at Kensei. Following the path of the wind blades, he gripped the staff in his hands, then started to spin it around and a white light started to radiate from it.

 _"My control may not be the best, but I can still do this much without much trouble."_

It was true that swords were his favored weapons, but Kensei learned the basics from his mother about how to use all of the weapons of the Amagiri-ryū. Following the path of the wind blades, he struck down several of them using the ki reinforced staff, while continuing to approach the young girl who didn't stop her attack. Seeing all her attacks being knocked down, the girl channeled more demonic power into her next attack and released a strong wind blade that couldn't be compared to the others. As it sailed in his direction, Kensei spun the bō staff around in his hand and focused ki at the tip of it.

"Amagiri-ryū: Akki Kōhai!"

(Translation: Heavenly Mist School: Evil Devastation)

Kensei smirked and stabbed the end of the bō staff into the ground at the same moment that the wind blade was about to reach him. A shock wave was released from around all him with the wind blade dispersing as if it were wiped out from existence. What Kensei used was an offensive Amagiri-ryū technique used to erased or purify all demonic-related beings and powers, which could also be used defensively. The shock wave that was released by that attack continued to stretch in the direction of the other attacks that the girl released along with it passing her causing a mysterious chill to overcome her.

"W-What was that?"

She questioned in a frightful tone.

It felt as if the power that she had been using had been disrupted, which was an aftereffect of the Akki Kōhai. It is a move that can also interrupt the natural flow of demonic powers for a limited about of time.

Break!

The staff that Kensei had used broke into pieces after using that technique, but it didn't matter since it has served its purpose. Taking the chance that technique granted him, he started to run in the direction of the little girl, which caused the girl's eyes to widen from fright as she started to step away from him with a terrified look. Fearing what would happen, the girl closed her eyes and prepared herself for whatever attack that Kensei might launch, but it wasn't what she taught that it would be.

Flick.

"Owie!"

She placed her hands on her forehead and stepped back after realizing that Kensei had just quickly flicked her forehead. Her eyes opened with stray tears at the corner of them as she stared at him.

"W-What was that for?"

"Did you calm down yet?"

Kensei questioned in a calming down causing the girl to stare at him with a confused look.

Nothing. He didn't look mad about the fact that she had just attacked him or about the fact that she had dealt him some injuries. Kensei just stared at her with the same calm look on his face and that caused a desire that she thought that she would never have again. It was the desire to have faith in someone. All the events in her life have been filled with one betrayal after another and each one took something from her. It all stemmed from just a simple thing that was essential in befriending someone, but if there was a chance that he wouldn't be like all the other people who she ran from in the past.

"C…Cl…air…." The words started to leave her mouth, but there was a small part of her that was trying hard to hold in. "My name…is Claire…Claire Belial."

The girl now named Claire stared at him as if she were waiting for a response that wasn't hostile, which was what she wanted most of all. Hearing her say her name for the first time caused Kensei to smirk and held his hand out with a smirk on his face.

"Hey, Claire. My name is Kensei…Kensei Amagiri. Nice to me ya'."

It was the response that Claire had been looking for after being left alone after all this time. She was able to tell someone her name and that alone caused a bright smile to form on her face.

"That's good. If you don't smile, then you'll end up losing all hope in being able to live life."

Kensei added after placing his hand on her head and started to pet it.

That feeling of his hand on her head brought back a familiar feeling whenever her father would do the same thing and it always made her feel good. After a while, Kensei removed his hand from on top of her head and kneeled in front of her with the same smile on his face.

"I guess that both of us went through a lot and had something happen to our parent that we cared a lot about," he said causing Claire to glance down with a sad look. "I guess the same could be said about everyone else on this island. A lot of people here either lost or were betrayed by the people that they trusted."

Hearing those words from him caused Claire to glance towards the ground.

"Well, I think that the same thing could be said about everyone on this island went through something similar," he added. "So, if you wouldn't mind. Would you like to stay with me?"

A look of disbelief formed on Claire's face as those words left his mouth. In truth, she was tired of being by herself and wanted to be with people who she could trust again…like her family from before.

"B-But, there are a lot of things that could happen on this island. I saw a lot of people fighting each other for their survival and even betraying one another to have their freedom. And this island was built on the greed of one human and built upon the greed of pure-blood devils and other humans…it all was started by a human filled with a devil's greed. It is as if being on this island is bringing out the vices of people the more they remain on this island. There is also the survival rate of all the people who fight in their tournament against all the monsters."

"Well, I don't think that I have a particular vice. I also think that there are a couple of decent people our age on this island. And you don't have to concern yourself about dying in a fight against monsters…I've been fighting against demons since I was around seven-years-old," Kensei said with confidence radiating from him to the point where it could be confused as cockiness. "So, what don't I make a promise?"

"A promise?"

"Yep, no matter what happens. I'll always be there for you. No matter the opponent. No matter the condition. No matter what the fight entails. Even if it means that I have to fight against a god…I'll always be on your side."

Kensei held out his hand towards Claire with a smile that didn't feign confidence to make her feel better about the situation. It displayed true confidence, in which, she couldn't help but want to believe in and trust. It was slow, but very steadily, but Claire finally grasped Kensei's hand.

"Okay, I believe in you…Onii-chan."

Claire replied caused Kensei to smile serenely a bit after hearing that last part.

 _"Well, this the second time that a girl called me that. That last time was Kunou-chan."_

Kensei thought, but he couldn't refuse her calling him that due to the bright smile on her face. It made him want to protect her all the more from anyone who would attempt to cause harm to her. After losing his mother, Kensei was nearly lost himself, but seeing Claire smiling at him caused that fire within him to be lit again.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sun Wukong had arrived back on the golden cloud that he left on beforehand and was thinking about the talk that he had beforehand.

"There seems to be more and more youkai and other monsters in different areas causing trouble like in the area I found Kensei at for the first time. It may progress to where I would have to intervene. It's a good thing that Sakra hasn't contacted me to do anything tasks for him…that Bald War God seems to like overworking this old geezer at different times."

Sun Wukong said seeming as if he were complaining before an idea popped into his head.

"I wonder how Kensei would like to challenge the minions of the high-ranked monsters causing trouble."

He added out loud to himself but stopped after noticing an interesting sight that caused him to laugh to himself a bit out of delight.

"Ohohoho~"

What Sun Wukong was witnessing was Kensei sitting in a zazen position without making a single movement and was just breathing silently, while being enveloped in touki. He was doing what he was instructed to, to make his mind go blank and becoming one with nature, which were the basis for mastering senjutsu. This same posture could be used to discover the hidden power within a person.

"What an interesting lad. He must have done something to motivate himself."

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the seventh chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, this is the official start of the second volume and to start it off was Kensei training with the Monkey King himself. Most of his training this time had entailed physical conditioning, but there will be more for him in the future. There was some reveal in the first encounter between Kensei and Claire along with it motivating him for the future.**

 **PS: This regards the harem for DxD – The Last Amagiri, I had planned on adding thirteen, but I thought of adding in another older woman to the harem. The first was Yasaka since everyone loves her and it would be interesting for both mother and daughter to be with him. Second, being Misla Bael since I thought that it would be interesting and that she deserves someone that's not an insecure douche.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah,** **Minako** **, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.**


	9. Hagun Island without Kensei

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Akasuna123: Thanks.**

 **Sonic: I don't see the issue, I mean her and Ravel at least the same height at one another (with Ravel being a little taller). And what does her being emotionless have to do with anything? I mean it's not like Kensei will be in his twenties when they meet, he'll be the same age as Issei. Kuroka and Ravel were also in his harem.**

 **Guest: I don't think that would work, the red hare has already been introduced as the partner of Guan Yu. I believe that the idea for the red hare was also done by Houki.**

 **Guest 2: I won't say that he will have a fetish for youkai, but that people may not believe me since he has a total of four of them in the harem.**

 **MarxDraconis: Welcome to FanFiction, I promise that there are a lot of great and well written High School DxD stories out there.**

 **Weslyschraepen: I don't know it depends. I may end up adding both of them.**

* * *

 **Hagun Island without Kensei**

It has been a week since all of them lost Kensei, but just like everyone else who either died or taken off of Hagun Island, it neither deterred or stopped the gehenna tournaments. Aside from the small number of complaints from the people who wanted to see him fighting before their eyes, but of course, none of them cared about Kensei and just wanted to see him fight like the others. It didn't matter at all if he died during the fights, the people just all wanted to see him doing so.

Because of this, Taro decided to make things in Gehenna a lot of hectic and exciting for all the people watching. It meant that more monsters were being added in along with the addition of more picturesque locations acting as a battlefield for them. This could have either been as a means for apologizing to his audience for the incident that was caused in Paradise. Or it could have been a punishment for what Kensei had done.

Either choice didn't matter in the end.

All that mattered were that those who were fighting found themselves in an even more difficult situation than they were beforehand. But, the likes of Alice, Hisui, and Maria have all proven to be able to handle themselves in their fights; but Alice found herself with some difficulties due to her weaker physical condition compared to the likes of Hisui and Maria. The others such as Layla did some issues in her battles before coming out the winner. And one other addition to Gehenna did have more difficulties than the others due to their lack of experience, but she was giving all the fights her all.

And that fight was being displayed on the viewing screen before their eyes―

In one the gaming field, it showed a forest that one would normally see from a fantasy novel and running through that forest was a single figure. That girl let out several rapid breaths as several trees behind her were being torn down one by one by a larger rampaging creature. Her face was hidden from the shade cast by the several trees around her, but she stared forward and noticed that there was a bright light shining in front of her.

 _"There should be a clearing in front of me. Fighting in this area don't give me that much of an advantage if it just continues to rampage like this."_

She thought as she was rushing to the clearing with the light that was being generated almost blinding her.

As soon as she made it into the light, her face was in clear view of the audience and it was revealed to the Claire who had cut her hair shorter. After hearing about the "death" of Kensei, she decided that she wouldn't be the kind of girl who would rely on and hid behind other people. To carry on the same goal that Kensei had and figure out a way for all of them to get off this island, Claire had to get stronger.

Upon entering the wide clearing, Claire had stopped running and stood in front of the entrance leading inside the forest she just exited out of. She stood there with her gaze focused at the entrance and felt the vibrations caused by the creature that was approaching her at high speeds.

'Claire always ensure that you're focused on attacks from any direction, especially if you're running away. During a battle, some enemies will not hesitate to attack you from behind. Though there will come a situation where you would need to face enemies with your focus trained completely on them.'

Claire recalled the words of advice that her father had said to her, then let out a single calming breath.

At the same moment, all the trees in front of her were torn down and the large intimidating creature burst out the forest. It was revealed to be at a massive demonic beast whose size dwarfed that of the young girl with rougher darkish skin and resemble that of a bull started locks its eyes at the young girl. Like a normal bull, it had started to scrape the ground using its foot with Claire prepared to move in case anything happened. After scraping the ground one more time, the demonic bull charged forward at her.

Anticipating the charge, Claire held up one of her hands, then used demonic power to create a miniature fireball in her hands. Moments before the bull made contact with her, she jumped to the side using a great amount of leg strength letting the bull charge passed her. Just before she landed on the ground, Claire launched the fireball at the side of the bull causing a fiery explosion. This attacked caused the demonic bull to be pushed back a bit, but it didn't look to have caused much damage.

Claire had noticed the damage that her attack was able to cause, then quickly regained her footing and formed a second fireball in her hand. Without letting the bull prepare for another charge, she released it at the same spot it took on her first attack causing another explosion causing the demonic bull to let out a pained cry this time. The force of the explosion caused Claire to be sent backward along with forming a cloud of smoke.

"Hmph."

Claire breathed out as soon as she regained her footing, but as soon as the smoke cleared the demonic bull did have a terrible burn mark on its side. Though it didn't seem to be enough to cause life-threatening injuries.

"Ooooooooooooo!"

The demonic bull let out a monstrous roar causing Claire to become somewhat shaken, especially after without a slight warning, it charged forward towards her at high-speed. It then pushed its head forward-pointing its horns at Claire with the intent of ramming into her. Realizing its intentions, she held her left forearm out with blue particles of light gathering around her forearm. It soon took on the physical shape of a white shield. Claire braced herself for the bull's charge and as predicted it rammed into the shield that she formed; the physical force behind it had pushed her backward, then it launched her into the air after lifting its head with great force.

Due to the impact, the shield that Claire had made cracked into pieces and the impact was transmitted to her right forearm.

"Ngh…."

Claire winced placing her left arm on her right arm.

Even though Claire was half-devil and her physical attributes were higher than that of most children her age, but it wasn't higher than the demon bull in front of her. Despite her lack of experience in using her sacred gear, it was still unable to defend her from the full brunt. But, she couldn't let the pain distract her, to regain her balance in the air, Claire summoned her bat-like wings from her back. Using them, she was able to regain her bearing, but there was another problem that she needed to deal with.

Thinking back to all the fights that she watched whether it was Kensei, Alice, or Maria all of them had their way of fighting against various opponents. It took more than their strength or abilities, it took them being able to use them in an effective manner depending on the monster. It was the basic yet important advice that all of the people fighting in the gehenna tournament would receive from the older kids who've been here much longer.

As Claire started to get her thoughts together, the demonic bull started to walk around waiting for her to land.

[I don't believe it! This little girl is putting up a good fight against this demonic bull!]

The same arbiter called out in a loud tone causing the audience to become excited.

"Hahaha, I never thought that a little brat like that would be able to survive this long."

"Well, there are a lot of freakish brats here that are more entertaining to watch fight rather than let roam around."

"I wonder if it would be possible to take their abilities and hand them off."

"They're just wasted on them!"

Claire ignored all the comments that came from the audience in the stands, then started to think of some kind of method to defeating this demonic bull. Before arriving in this clearing, she was able to get away from it due to all of the trees in the surrounding area acting as cover for her, however, she was unable to get a clear hit on the bull since all it did was rampage and knock down all the trees around it. Her clan's inherent trait wouldn't do much since it wasn't using any special power and she couldn't launch powerful magic attacks.

"I guess there's no choice."

Claire said to herself as she floated towards the ground further away from the bull.

There wasn't a chance in her being able to attack it head-on as she didn't have the same level of combat abilities as either Kensei or Maria. Nor create creatures to fight on her behalf like Alice. Though Claire was told that she did have potential in magic, she didn't have the demonic power or magic skill for an all-out magic bombardment.

 _"In a situation like Nii-san would probably think,"_ Claire thought to herself as she stood in a prepared stance. "I'll just wing it."

Seeing Claire stand before it, the bull started to scrape the ground using its foot again, then it charged at Claire at another attempt at trampling over her. As it continued to charge forward at her, she paid attention to both its speed and timed her dodges to avoid a head-on collision. As soon as it passed by Claire, the bull turned its body around and made a second attempt at ramming into her. Claire had done the same thing from before and dodged the demonic bull. This routine continued for several minutes.

[Well, this is fight has started to turn into a typical bullfight! I wonder what our little matador is going to do?!]

Again Claire ignored the arbiter of the match and focused on the task in front of her, a plan for what to do came to mind and it could be something that takes perfect timing. As soon as she dodged the bull one more time, it had passed by her, she stood her ground with her feet placed firmly on the ground. The bull turned its body around, then noticed her stance and took it as a challenge. The demonic bull started scraping the ground with far greater force than before causing the ground to be dug up.

After a while, the bull charged forward at high-speed and force towards Claire with the full intent of trampling her even directing its horns towards her. Just before it crashed into her, she jumped into the air using her devil wings as a means of assisting in this feat. Upon shifting her body, she grabbed onto the horns of the demonic bull and landed on its back. In response to this, the bull started to thrash around to shake Claire off of its back.

[Well, this is a surprise. I didn't think that you would something like this?]

Claire heard Radueriel in her head, while the demonic bull continued to thrash around in an attempt to get her off of its back.

"It just popped into my head. And it's all that I could think of at the moment," Claire said as she held out her free hand and summoned the same white angelic knife that has a blue blade that she used to cut her hair. "Can I rely on you to assist in channeling my demonic power?"

[Of course, I'll adjust the light power in the weapon enough so that it won't offset your power.]

Radueriel agreed as Claire raised the knife into the air, then stabbed it into the neck of the demonic bull causing it to let out a painful scream.

"Ooooooooooooo!"

As pain traveled across its entire body, the bull thrashed around, even more, to get Claire off its back.

Claire would have fallen off if she wasn't tightly holding onto one of its horns, but she pressed on and channeled demonic power into the blade, then changed it into lightning; thus sending bolts of lightning into its neck. This had caused the bull to become paralyzed for a moment, then another element, this time fire was sent into its wound and channeled into its body causing bursts of flames to gush out from its mouth. Claire knew that no matter how tough their outer body would be, internal damage isn't easy to defend against.

After a while, the demonic bull couldn't stand on its own feet and kneeled on the ground until it fell to the ground, then finally it landed on its side. As soon as it died, the knife vanished in her hand and Claire noticed that most of her clothing was covered in the blood of the bull. Though seeing the young girl standing over the corpse of the bull caused the entire crowd to roar in excitement causing Claire to glance towards the exit.

[What a stunning sight this little girl had ruthlessly defeated the bull!]

Claire ignored the arbiter and continued to walk towards the exit.

"I never thought that a girl like her would be able to do that."

"I guess that she surprised everyone."

"No matter, trash is still trash."

As the scenery soon broke away returning to normal, Claire ignored all the words even if it were harsh or praise as none of their comments mattered to her. The comments of the people who watched and bet on whether or not all of them would die in these fights didn't matter to them.

* * *

Claire soon returned to the entrance leading into Residential Area A, which acted as one of the four areas where all of them were allowed to live. In front of her, she noticed that it was the same as always, some kids were running and playing around the area while others were just sitting outside. There was one person there waiting for her arrival, it was Rui who sent an almost concerned look after seeing the blood that covered her.

"Claire, you made of mess of yourself in that fight. Couldn't you have won in a manner that it didn't do that to yourself?"

"I couldn't think of anything else. I don't have that much experience in fighting close or long-range compared to all of you."

"I guess, I mean you did just start fighting in gGehennajust three days ago," Rui said scratching her dog-like ears that seemed to twitch. "Well, everyone else is all Residential Area C. So, I decided to come here to get you."

"Not that I'm being rude, but why you?"

"Well, in our little group, I would like to think that I'm the fastest."

"You would be right about that."

Claire replied as she walked passed Rui.

As the younger gray-haired girl walked passed by her without saying another word.

It didn't that long for Rui and the others to realize the change that had occurred in Claire after Kensei died. There were times when Claire didn't even acknowledge when they were talking to her. Aside from when they talk about a plan in getting off Hagun Island, Claire wouldn't say a single word to anyone unless it was Alice was the person talking to her. None of them could think of or say anything that would be able to make things right, as at least a lot of the people in their group's parents were still alive and weren't situations like Claire.

"Fine then, I'll be waiting outside for you to finish."

Those were the only words that Rui could think of as Claire proceeded to walk inside both hers and Alice's home to change her clothes.

* * *

Minutes later, after cleaning the blood off her and changing clothing, Claire walked outside with Rui sitting in front of their front door. The two of them then started to head in the direction of Residential Area C where everyone in their group was at the moment. As soon as the two of them arrived there, what the two of them arrived to was a training session between two familiar people. One of them was Maria who held a wooden sword in her hand that seemed large enough to fit in her hands. And the other was Layla holding a wooden spear in her hands.

Claire didn't know how long the fight had continued, but from what she could see, Layla was the first to charge at the brown-haired girl with the point of the spear aimed at her. Maria stepped to the side letting the spear pass by her and continued to dodge the continuous assault being aimed at her by Layla using the spear. Not a single one of her moves were too overdone and were minimal at best without using her wooden sword once. Their practice match continued as Claire noticed her group watching their match and walked towards them.

Though the two of them wouldn't usually be around them, their group started to get closer since the "death" of Kensei. There was also the fact that Zane had believed that it would be a good idea for them to become far more acquainted with one another. It would also be more advantageous in having more capable people on their side whenever he starts their escape plan. Though this was after figuring out that they were able to trust the two of them without worrying about either of them being figured out.

"Hey, Claire."

After noticing her presence, Zane was the first among them to wave their hand in her direction, while Rui took her seat next to Hisui. Claire replied to his greeting with a single wave of her hand and took a spot right next to Alice who glanced away from the sparring session between Maria and Layla to look at Claire.

"That was a great match, Claire. You did a good job."

Alice said as she placed a hand on top of the young girl's head.

The feeling of having Alice pat her on top of the head reminded the young girl of what Kensei would always do to her and gave her a comforting feeling.

"I was surprised," Hisui said as she glanced towards Claire. "I didn't think that our little Claire would do something so savage and violet."

Aside from the others who didn't know what either of them could say to Claire, Hisui remained the same as ever and spoke to her the same as she always does. And Claire would always reply the same way that she normally would despite them not fighting over Kensei.

"Well, it was the only thing that I could think of at the moment. I doubt that you would have been able to think of anything else to do."

"I don't think that I'm able to do things as physical as Ken Ken, but I'm confident in my prowess in senjutsu and youjutsu. So, you don't need to be worried about little ol' me."

Hisui responded to Claire with her usual smile as Claire herself stared at the jade-haired girl with a deadpan look.

"I'm worried about you."

Claire replied as her facial expression turned more aggressive.

Both Zane and Rui showed respect for the nekomata for being able to hold up her usual tone and talk with Claire despite what had happened. As the five of them continued to stand there talking with one another or sit there, the two people who were sparring in front of one another continued. Layla spun her wooden spear around making a strong swing at Maria who used her wooden sword to blocked it, then performed a maneuver that had deflected it aside. Seeing that her attack was deflected, Layla took on a stance preparing for a head-on strike utilizing her spear and charged forward towards the brown-haired girl.

Maria read the direction and timing of this simple charge, then stepped aside and swung her sword towards the young girl and knocked the wooden spear in her hand. The suddenness of this caused Layla to stare into the air as the spear was stabbed into the ground. Before she was even able to react to what happened next, she looked forward and noticed Maria in front of her with the tip of her sword at her neck.

"You're dead."

Maria said in a low tone in a real-life manner to display the seriousness of the potential situation Layla could've been in if this were a real battle.

"*Sigh* I lost to you again sis."

After losing, Layla just allowed herself to fall backward landing on her butt as she let out a deep sigh. After she noticed the look on her face, Maria spun her sword around in her hand, then rested it on her shoulder.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of, I mean you've improved more than before when you started. And besides, there is still room for improvement whether it's with your skill with a spear or sacred gear. I mean, we're all still just kids, so we still have time to develop ourselves."

Maria encouraged the Layla causing a small smile to creep on her face.

"Alright, Maria why don't we all take a small break," Zane suggested. "Besides there are some things that I would like to talk to you all about."

Upon hearing that suggestion Maria couldn't disagree and she was interested in hearing what Zane had to say to all of them.

"Before we start, Maria where's Iris? I think that it would be best for all of us to be heard about this."

"Oh, I thought you knew," she replied with a confused look. "Iris has been here this whole time hiding behind the tree you were all sitting behind."

Maria pointed out as she directed her finger towards the tree behind Zane and the others. After most of them had turned their heads and reacting to Maria's voice, Iris poked out her head, but immediately hid again after noticing all the looks that they were giving her. No matter the amount of time that all of them spent together, Iris hadn't yet gotten used to being around none of them aside from Maria and Layla.

"Has she been there the entire time?"

"Yea, if it wasn't for my senjutsu, then I probably wouldn't have noticed her at all."

Hisui stated right after Claire asked that question with Rui also raising her hand signifying that she knew about the presence of the younger girl.

"I got a vague sense that she was hiding behind there since Hisui did take the time to teach me a little bit about using senjutsu. Though, I can't do anything aside from sensing the presence of others to some extent."

Rui explained with Hisui nodding her head to confirm what she had said was the truth.

Despite the minor additions to their talk, Zane had continued with the main reason for starting this talk after he made more of a serious look.

"Guys, I think that I was able to figure out the unique signal being sent to from our bracelets to whatever Taro is using to track all of us."

That statement from him caused the people around him to become a bit shocked as it was something that even the older magicians here were able to do. All that all of them knew was that they were being tracked all the time by the Taro and researchers involved with creating the bracelet, which was why the bracelets reacted to the way that they did whenever someone tampered with it. Though wanting to confirm something before continuing Maria held her hand out with a question in mind.

"Wait, before we continue. Shouldn't we all not talk about this in the open like this," Maria brought out a good point that a lot of them thought about beforehand. "I mean, we all know that Taro has people watching a lot of us from the shadows to make sure no one plans anything or attempt to rebel. So, wouldn't it be better that we all go inside somewhere more secure? I mean, there is even some honorary gehenna guard hidden somewhere."

After hearing that question from Maria, none of them were able to refute or disagree with her. There were a lot of people in the past who were taken into custody after hearing them talk about rebelling against both Taro and the Gehenna Guard. And even if an honorary guard had their bracelets taken off, there could be people among them whose bracelets aren't really active and are just pretending to still be a captive. Though Zane had already taken that into account and decided to reveal something.

"I had already thought about that and had a little insurance added," Zane stated with a smirk. "One of the reasons why I decided to keep our little group as small as possible was to keep rumors from spreading about our plans in getting out of here. That's why I decided to handpick people that I knew that I could trust with secrets. Now do all of you recall the one thing that I need after choosing you guys to be in this little inner circle?"

Zane asked them an odd cryptic question that all of them had wondered what the purpose was.

Though after hearing that question, all of them started thinking back to the first time that Zane added them in his "inner circle". Of course, it was something that could be figured out by those who had undergone the one specific thing and witnessed the others do the same thing. After a while, the first person to hold their hand out was Alice.

"Wait, the first time that you and Kensei started this 'inner circle, you shook his right hand, but when I was next, you shook my left hand."

"Now that Alice mentioned it, you did shake the hands that had the bracelets specifically on them. I did think that it was odd, but didn't think about it that much."

"That was meant for my "source" to assist in examining the bracelets on each of your arms and for me to cast a little spell on all of you."

That last statement caused them to stare at Zane with a shocked look as none of them even Hisui noticed that a spell was cast on them and without their knowledge. After noticing the looks that he was getting Zane waved his hands in an almost nervous manner as he laughed in a manner that didn't display nervousness.

"Okay okay, before you start to hound me or ask me a mountain load of questions let me explain," Zane said as all of the girls stared at him with a singular stare causing him to sweat. "…I miss it when Kensei was here on my side…. The spell isn't harmful, all that it does it makes our conversations for just all of the people that I permit to hear and understand."

"What?"

"I think that I've heard about a spell-like this being used in the Magicians' Association."

While the others were confused about what Zane had said, Maria was able to understand it as she had heard of a spell-like this being used once before.

"I believe that it was a spell that makes ones' conversation private from the ears of others aside from those within a certain range almost like being in a soundproof room. Though it sounds as if this particular spell made it so that the only people who can hear our conversation are those who've been marked by it."

"Actually and the reason that I did cast it on the arms that had the bracelets was just in case those people were listening to our conversations."

"But, I thought that if someone tampered with it, then its feedback system would activate and kill them."

"That's only if it was done so directly, but I only affected the bracelet itself indirectly."

No one could say a single word after hearing those words exit his mouth. All of them knew that Zane was good at coming up with plans and strategies, but they never thought that he would be this effective in a manner as well. It is due to him being the only one among them aside from Iris who hadn't entered the gehenna tournament once in spite of him being there much longer than them. Though this just showed them even more than Zane is far more capable than they realized.

"Now as I was saying, if I can figure out the signal being sent from out bracelets, then I should be able to counter it. If I could do that, then some of us should be able to venture to the tower where the signal that Taro has been using to control all the other bracelets with the ring of his. Then―"

"Then not just us, but we should be able to get everyone out of here."

Maria added as she smiled sincerely at the idea that Zane had come up with and wouldn't have thought another person her age would have been able to come up with this kind of idea.

"Though, I don't want to say this," Zane had said after letting out a bit of a sigh. "When that time comes for us to do this, I think that there's one person who would be able to assist in disabling it."

After that question came up, there was the only person that all of them had immediately thought of due to their own unique inherited power, which could become a necessity. All of them glanced towards Claire who looked resolute about the task that may end being entrusted to her. As a member of the Belial Clan, she had the inherent power of "Worthless", which lets her invalidate special powers as long as she knows their properties. If that were the case, then Claire would be essential in their plan succeeding.

 _"*Sigh* Knowing how protective Kensei was of Claire, he'd either disagree with this idea or just yell for me even considering using her for this,"_ Zane thought as he stared at Claire who continued to look determined. _"But, I can't just say not after seeing how determined she is."_

―I believe that Ken Ken is still alive.

Those were the honest words that came from Hisui, but it was said around Claire with none of them wanting to aggravate the young girl any further seeing how she reacted when they heard he died.

 _"It wouldn't surprise me if he were still alive, he always used to say that he doesn't die that easily. Though it still doesn't change the fact that Kensei isn't here with us right now, all that I can do is support everyone here on my own as much as I can."_

Both Kensei and Zane always thought that it was up to them to support women who were in their group with all their strength. It wasn't that they didn't believe that the girls' couldn't handle themselves without their assistance, it was just that the two of them were still immature and believed that it was their job as 'men' to protect them. But, it could be said that Kensei and Zane also viewed them as some of their closest friends and comrades. Which is why they would do whatever it took to protect them.

"Alright, I'll do what I can," Zane said to himself as he stared at them all. "Now that we all finally got a great game plan, let's talk about how and when we're going to play it out."

Before Zane could say another word, there was a sudden familiar and ominous sound that all of them were too familiar with to ever forget.

BEEP BEEP

The usual signal came from the bracelet belonging to Alice who stared down with the usual look on her face. As a small sigh left from her mouth, Alice stood up without a single bit of hesitance.

"Okay, looks like it's my turn. You guys can continue the talk without me while I'm gone, then Claire can fill me in later when I return."

Alice said as she started to walk away, but Zane shook his head.

"No, it'll be best if all of us hear about it at the same time."

After hearing the response from both Alice and Zane, Maria stood up from the ground and stretched her arms as she also glanced towards everyone else.

"Well, if that's the case, then why don't we get back to training? You're up next right, Claire?"

Maria questioned as she looked towards the gray-haired girl who stood up ground and nodded her head.

Though before Claire was about to start training with Maria, she turned towards Alice who was preparing to leave for her next match. Without her needing to say a single work, Alice knew what that look meant and sent a smile in her question in a reassuring manner.

"Don't concern yourself with me, Claire. Just focus on your training with Maria.."

Alice stated as she patted the top of the younger girl's head in a comfortable manner causing a sense of relief to well up in the young girl. Once Alice removed her hand from on top of Claire's head, Hisui also stood up after she noticed her starting to head off away from the area.

"I'll come along to restore your stamina before you head off to fight. Despite all the treatment that I've been giving you, you still can't overwork yourself too much Alice."

"I know, thanks for that Hisui."

Alice thanked the jade-haired girl as she started following behind her, leaving the others to stand there and watch as Maria started to train with Claire. The young girl glanced aside towards a makeshift rack that has several makeshift weapons carved using wood. This was something else that the older kids had prepared for the children who were still learning how to use actual weapons and so this lets them train for the start of a match.

She knew that a longer weapon like the spear that Layla was wielding wouldn't be a good match for her as Claire didn't have prior experience with a weapon. At the moment, all that Claire could handle was a short sword and in fact, it was something that she had prior experience with due to the small 'spars' that she had with her father. The moment that Claire picked out her weapon, she went and stood in front of Maria who held onto her sword.

"So are you prepared, Claire?"

Maria questioned as she stood in a relaxed stance instead of a combat one, which was something that she does all the time.

"Yes."

"Okay, come at me whenever you like."

Claire nodded and took one a stance that she learned from her father, then in an almost untrained manner, she rushed at Maria. In another untrained manner, she slashed her sword aiming for the side of Maria, but the older girl blocked the strike using her sword, then knocked Claire off balance using a single movement. As soon she was able to regain her balance, Claire continued to make several slashes at Maria who continued to just deflect each of the slashes that were aimed at her.

"I heard from Zane that you have a sacred gear that lets you create different weapons, but without proper training or knowledge that'll end up being harmless instead of helpless."

Maria informed her as she knocked Claire off balance for the second time, but just like before she regained her balance and continued making slashes at the brown-haired girl. Each slash was made using a similar pattern than before, though soon enough Claire started to repair and better her strikes. Zane who stood on the sidelines stared at what was happening with an interesting look.

"You, I've never seen Maria take on an actual serious stance when training with you despite you being far more experienced than Claire in terms of fighting. It just looks like Maria is just going easy on the two of you."

"It's Sis' method of training others who lack much experience in combat," Layla started to explain. "A stance that looks relaxed yet it lets her respond to attacks in more of a gentle manner and even when blocking an attack, Sis adjusts the position of our strikes without us realizing it using her sword. Doing this lets one continue to progress efficiently even without knowing."

"Really? I didn't even notice her doing any of that."

Zane replied as he continued staring at Maria as she trained with Claire who made several attempting at getting a hit on Maria. Though now that he got a better look at it, it did seem as if Maria was ever so slightly moving her wooden sword at the same moment that it clashed with Claire's wooden short sword.

"I didn't realize it until one of the teens in the area we lived in pointed it out," Layla stated after noticing the look on Zane's face and even laughed a little. "After I mentioned it, it was the first time that I saw Sis become bashful before stating that it was something her old…acquaintance taught her."

It didn't take long for Zane to realize that had stopped herself from saying something else, but he didn't pursue it if it was neither of them wanted to talk about it. He also knew that there were a lot of people on Hagun Island who didn't want to talk about their pasts and it wouldn't be right to make them talk about it. There was also the facial expression that Layla made that was almost looked distressed.

"So, it was an acquaintance, huh?"

Zane questioned feigning ignorance about the slip up that Layla almost made causing the girl to feel some hint of relief about it, but she believed that he saw through it and just decided not to proceed with it.

"Do you believe that Kensei is still alive? There have been a lot of people like him who been confident in them getting off the island and are either taken off the island to be sold or killed in fighting back."

Layla decided to ask him after realizing how Hisui, Alice and even Zane were acting after hearing about his death compared to Claire who felt devastated about it. She had also seen others living around their residences who had lost someone important to them being lost and or they would sometimes lose their will to go on, but that wasn't at all the case with the three people who saw Kensei as their closest friend.

"At first, I was shocked about it after hearing about it from Taro, but then I was reminded of something," he stated as he made a smirk on his face. "Kensei Amagiri is the only person in the world that I can call my best friend and my closest comrade. And I vowed the moment that we all got out of here that I would assist him in anything if he ever required my assistance. Even if it entails a fight or making a weapon, I will always do my best to assist him if he ever calls for my aid."

Zane declared out loud to the light-haired young girl who stared at him with an astonished look.

"I-I've never heard someone say something like that before. What if Kensei were to start a fight with all the devils in the underworld? I mean, it wouldn't be surprising considering all that he's been through."

"I'll assist him no matter what," he replied without the slightest hesitance causing the expression of Layla to fall a bit at the shot time-lapse. "Though Kensei would seem like the kind of person who would start a fight with the first person who angered him, he wouldn't start a serious fight with someone that high up the latter without a perfect reason or good intentions. No matter the opponent or danger, if he ever needs my help, I'll be right there."

Layla was surprised by the faith that Zane had in Kensei as both his best friend and comrade. She couldn't even recall anyone else saying those kinds of words to one another on Hagun Island. Layla had heard those words a lot from others off Hagun Island, but when push came to shove, their promise was never kept meaning that it was just an empty promise. Though she couldn't see that in the belief-filled words from Zane who had faith in his best friend still being alive.

 _"I guess that's another reason why Sis thought that it would be a great idea to choose this group."_

Layla thought as she joined in watching both Maria and Claire continued to train with one another, the latter had fixed her stance and swings with the assistance of the former.

* * *

Both Claire and Maria continued to practice for several minutes until the sunset, then all of them started to return to their own homes. In the residences that now both Claire and Alice lived alone, the gray-haired girl was now in the kitchen making their 'dinner' after finishing her training with Maria. As she stood there in front of the pot with a lot of water boiling in it with some minor ingredients, Claire looked into the water staring at her reflection without a hint of her usual cheerful demeanor being on her face.

'Yo, Claire when is dinner going to be ready?'

She could recall Kensei asking that question with the same hint of spirit and confidence behind them.

'Kensei you can't rush the cook, it is kind of rude."

Alice would always rebuke him sometimes with the same lackluster tone while being considerate of Claire who was cooking for all three of them.

'I wasn't trying to be rude. I just can't wait to eat, I tend to burn through energy when I run around fighting against several monsters,' he replied as he laid back in the couch with his head near where Alice was sitting almost laying his head on her lap. 'Besides, I like eating Claire's food. Despite all the less than satisfying ingredients that those guys provide us all the time, Claire makes it in a way that makes it enjoyable.'

'That is true, I do enjoy eating her food.'

'Hehehehe, I guess that you two really can't survive without me, huh?"

Claire questioned her usual bright yet at the same time proud time.

''Yep!''

Kensei and Alice replied nonchalantly as neither of them had enough cooking skill needed to make delicious food as Claire could. This caused the young girl to face them with both her hands on her hip with the utensil in her other hand with an expression filled with pride.

'Then that's another reason for all three of us to remain together, I'll keep getting better and better making all the food that you two can eat.'

It was their usual familial dynamic, though all three came from various backward, they still viewed one another as being a small happy family.

Though as that memory flowed back in her head like the stream running down a stream, tears started to appear at the corners of her eyes. It wasn't the same without 'him' being there making whatever comment that he would whether it was about what all three of them would all do once they got out of there or just some joke started had popped out of his head, it still makes them laugh if not just because it was something entirely silly.

At around the same moment, Alice had walked through the door and she noticed Claire staring in the water with tears started to train down her face. It was the first time that Alice had seen her starting to cry in a while, it didn't take her long to realize that Claire was just holding it in without expressing her feelings at all. Without saying one word, Alice started to approach the younger girl she viewed as a sister and hugged her from behind.

Even without noticing Alice walking behind, Claire didn't react at all and just sunk into the embrace with tears still streaming down her eyes.

"I-I can't…I'm sorry, but I can't act the same as before. It isn't the same without Nii-san being here with all of us. Continuing to just live here without him just feels like one big punishment from God. It is because I'm the daughter of a devil and exorcist that I continue to lose the people that I care about?! What else could it be, Alice-nee?!"

Still, Alice didn't say a single word, she just hugged the girl even more into her chest and just let her let out all that she was holding within herself without stopping. If she didn't then it would just end up hurting her even more than it ever has before if she just held it within herself without letting it all out.

"I want Nii-san back!"

Claire shouted as she dropped the utensil in her hands as she dropped to the ground with Alice following with the younger girl wrapping around the last person she viewed as her older sibling.

 _"Kensei, I believe that you're out there somewhere,"_ Alice thought as she a tear streamed down her eyes. _"Please come back soon….I can keep all of the pieces in her little heart together. But if you don't come back soon, then she'll end breaking down completely."_

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the eight chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, in this chapter it was one week after Kensei had "died" and it showed the impact that it had on them. It also showed Claire entering the fights in Gehenna and displaying the amount of skill that she has with her sacred gear. There was also a scene with both Maria and Layla (later Iris) joining their escape plans to leave Hagun Island. A small hint in the past of Maria, but a lot more will be explained in the future along with her starting to train Claire.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.**


	10. Training in the Mountains

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Guest: Indra will be mentioned since this is still based around in canon, but I think that adding one of their weapons would be a little much.**

 **Rider126: Taro will get what's coming to him soon enough.**

 **Sonic: Thanks.**

* * *

 **Training in the Mountains**

On the same mountain where Kensei began his training with the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, he sat down on the ground with a blindfold covering his eyes and legs crossed. There were dirt and scratches as well as some lighter wounds on him from his training with Sun Wukong. As Kensei continued to sit there motionless without using his sight for this part of the test. Said instructor walked around his student holding his Ruyi Jingu Bang spinning the staff around in his hand, however, neither his footsteps or presence could be sensed by the ten-year-old.

This training was meant to train his reflexes in using senjutsu to sense a person's presence and aura at a second notice. Seeing how Sun Wukong as known as a monster for mastering both senjutsu and youjutsu, it was almost as if he wasn't there anymore, which Kensei was sometimes left to believe. Without the slightest bit of hesitation, Sun Wukong extends his staff in the direction of Kensei who remained sitting there motionless, while at the same time focusing the smallest amount of touki possible at the tip of his staff.

Due to the overall strength of his legendary weapon, which he used when fighting against demons and even the other gods sometimes, a single hard it would be enough to down an adult male. As such, the simplest could end up with serious injuries. Kensei focused on the small amount of touki channeled at the tip of his staff but seeing he was still new to using senjutsu, his reaction time in using it on and off against was a little menial. However, he was still able to dodge the staff coming at him by moving to his head to the left.

 _"If possible, I would like to focus on training him more efficient than this,"_ Sun Wukong thought as he called his staff back without saying a single word to give up his position. _"Though, despite that this lad is picking up on all of the basics at a quick enough pace to somewhat make up for it. I had planned on teaching Kensei at least one Chinese martial arts and if there was enough time, a second, but if he continues this, then I should be able to teach him the basics in at least three."_

Sun Wukong stated in his head before he realized the amount of focus that Kensei was putting in this training to learn as much as he could, while he continued to walk around him without making his presence known.

 _"He's putting so much focus into training every day, something like this should be a lot slower so that one doesn't overwork themselves. Based on what he explained, he started to train at around seven-years-old when all of his clansmen were almost wiped out. In that period, his mother trained him at the perfect pace so that he could pick up the basics of their Amagiri-ryū. Despite knowing about her son's talent, she trained him slower so that he wouldn't overwork himself each time needlessly."_

As that thought entered his mind, Sun Wukong did the same thing as before and channels a small amount of his touki into his staff and aimed it as Kensei. Though this time, he wasn't able to dodge it in time causing him to be sent towards the ground with enough force to knock him over. Having been sent on the ground, Kensei pushed himself over onto his back and started to breathe a little heavier than before. Seeing that caused Sun Wukong to let out a slight sigh as he scratched his head.

"Kensei ended up mentally exhausting himself. Well, at least he did last two hours and a half in that position, then sense at least over fifty hits," Sun Wukong said after noticing the manner his temporary student was breathing as he stabbed his staff into the ground and pulled out his smoking pipe. "Alright, Kensei time to take a break before heading back."

"…alright."

Kensei said as he let a slight breath escape from his mouth, then took off the blindfold that blocked his view.

After being given a break by his instructor, Kensei rested on the ground with his arms and legs sprawled out with his chest rising upwards and descending downwards at a quicker pace. Sun Wukong then lit his pipe using fire-based magic and started to smoke it.

"Hmm, even though sitting down in a meditative stance like that doesn't look difficult, doing some like that can tire you out mentally. I know you're worried about that little girl and your friends, but there are over two more weeks until those devils take her off the island. And with how much you were able to pick up on the martial arts and senjutsu that I taught you, you should be strong enough to challenge those armed humans even if you half-assed this kind of training. Besides it's not like this training will mean you'll be strong enough to take on anyone, this is a training meant to further sharpen your combat skills as well as your physical abilities. The training you'll do later on in life will depend on you."

Kensei listened in to what Sun Wukong said and agreed with him, then while he laid on the ground, he started to circulate his ki to heal his fatigue and stamina. It was apart of the same healing aspect of senjutsu, which Hisui has used to heal Alice. Though he learned the basics of this, he had enough skill to utilize it to remove some of his fatigue.

"So what do you plan on doing after freeing everyone from this Hagun Island," Sun Wukong decided to ask since he was training himself to be able to defeat their captors. _"It wouldn't surprise if he says that he wants to take his revenge on the Old Devils who killed his mother. Though I've seen a lot of humans give in to their hatred and kill all the people who've done them wrong in the past and ended up becoming poison to this world. I wouldn't want to end up fighting this kid one day and be forced to take him out."_

"…huh? Well, I thought about it or a while and I'll probably end up having everyone living on Hagun Island move into my hometown. There aren't that many kids there who don't have homes to return to, so I thought that it'll be best if they reside in Kibou Town. Besides no matter, their connections, those old bastards or anyone can't enter the territories of the Amagiri Clan without permission due to the protective talismans in normal cases."

Sun Wukong was almost stumped about his response expecting him to say something like, 'I'm going to kill those old bastards'. He was able to easily tell that Kensei wasn't lying and it wasn't that difficult since he knew that this child wasn't the kind of person to lie about something this serious.

"I thought you were going to take revenge on the old devils."

"Oh, I'm still planning on it getting back at those old bastards," Sun Wukong was almost bemused by his honest answer without the slightest bit of hesitance behind them. "Though I'll decide what to do later after freeing all the people on Hagun Island. It isn't like I plan on taking them on as soon as I get out of here, however, it isn't like they plan on just letting all of us go with everything that we know."

Again, it was something that Sun Wukong also knew that due to their nature, there was no way that someone like the old devils would let the ones who knew about their secrets live. Even all of the children on Hagun Island will be eliminated without hesitations.

"I didn't think that you would have thought this through since you seem like the type to charge in without a single thought," Sun Wukong stated as he got to know somewhat about his personality throughout training him. "Was it something else that you learned from your mother?"

"No, it was something I learned from my father. Mom always said that he never made a serious decision without thinking about it first. Though, I heard that as a teenager, my father was courageous yet reckless a lot like my mom was at that age."

After saying that Kensei sat up from the ground and started to stretch his arms after feeling a little better after he mental exhausted himself.

"Well, why don't we head back to Xuanzang's home to eat?"

Hearing that question caused Kensei to stand up with an almost energetic look and at the same time, his teacher called his golden cloud, which both of them jumped on top of.

* * *

After a while, both of them arrived at the home of Xuanzang who sat outside in front of a metal pot, which stood above a fire. Kensei was able to smell the contents of the pot even before he landed on the ground and it came more apparent after landing nearby. As soon as he did, he also noted Yu-Long who laid down nearby the cooking metal pot waiting for the food to be cooked.

"Hey, Xuanzang-san."

Kensei greeted him with a bow causing the Buddha to smile a bit.

"How was training with Sun Wukong this time?"

"I'm getting the hang of using senjutsu on a whim at least thanks to Sun-sensei, but there are a lot of things that I need to improve on."

"That's good, but don't get discouraged," Xuanzang replied. "You're making a lot of progress in it considering that it has been just two weeks. Besides are you sure that you don't want to make any requests in cooking, I mean all you've had been eating is noodles or other basics. I thought most kids you're age would've gotten tired of eating the very same thing, I mean I don't mind cooking something else."

"Maybe if I visit another time, I promised myself that I would eat real food with both Claire and the others."

Kensei said without the slightest bit of doubt in his voice caused Xuanzang to look at him with an impressed look.

"Well, then I might as well finish. Also, we'll start the lesson later on."

"Okay."

Kensei replied as he took a seat on the ground near the cooking metal pot with Sun Wukong smirking a bit after blowing smoke out of his mouth. Aside from learning Chinese martial arts and senjutsu from the Sun Wukong, he was also learning several lessons from Xuanzang Sanzang like greater insight into their culture as well as how to speak Chinese. There were also some stories that the former monk told him about their various experience. After Kensei was offered lessons, Sun Wukong thought that he wouldn't be all that interested in learning about things, which had nothing to do with fighting, but he was surprised that someone like Kensei agreed.

 _"Looks like this kid has more interests than fighting, that's good to hear. It would be a shame if that became his full focus on life like that idiot descendant of mine."_

Sun Wukong thought as he started to laugh silently to himself.

As soon as Xuanzang finished cooking the noodles, he poured each of the portions into a bowl for all three other people around him as well as for himself. Unlike Kensei, Sun Wukong, and Xuanzang who were using chopsticks to eat their noodles, the Dragon-King himself in his miniature form was eating his portion in a similar to that of an actual animal. It was the kind of thing that you would expect from the self-proclaimed Liveliest Dragon and also the youngest among the other Dragon-Kings.

Afterward, things went on as planned, Xuanzang started to teach Kensei various things about various subjects such as grammar, which were enough for someone his age to be able to understand. It is sounded like a scholar like himself to sum them up in such a manner. To be honest, Kensei was glad that Xuanzang took the time to do this, but it could be partly due to the monk being a little bored living on the mountain himself. And this also made Xuanzang happy to be able to teach someone most of what he learned himself.

"I'm happy to hear that there is someone your age interested in what I learned during my travels as a human."

Xuanzang said displaying his happiness about Kensei wanting to learn from him.

"Well, I thought that it was the perfect chance to learn as long as I was here," Kensei said as he glanced towards Yu-Long who was sleeping after eating dinner with them. "The second option would be the Laziest Dragon lying down sleep over there."

"Yea, Yu-Long gets like this after eating large portions of food sometimes," Xuanzang said after shaking his head a bit. "They have their differences, but both gods and dragons evil or not are pure beings who devote themselves to their own will and goals. Even if it seems odd to others, it is perfectly reasonable to them. Though there are a lot of them who takes it too far, then people such as Sun Wukong has to be the ones forced to either eliminate or detain them if necessary."

After saying those words, Xuanzang continued along with his lesson with Kensei for almost the remainder of the day since his training with Sun Wukong was already completed.

Later that night, since there were no other rooms inside of the home of Xuanzang, both Sun Wukong and Yu-Long retreated to their residence. The homeowner himself was sleeping inside of his room after a while with his guest being the only person currently still awoke and practicing something outside.

"Gah."

Kensei let out a small grunt as he slipped on the ground landing face-first onto the ground and rubbed his nose as soon as he stood up from off the ground. He thought back to his battle against Hayashi Namikaze and despite all the training that he was undergoing to sharpen his physical and combat abilities, it could be enough to let him fight against the gehenna guard, but their commander was different. Kensei viewed the others as thugs with the knowledge that higher-level beings existed.

All of the gehenna guards were just a ragtag group of people who experienced and lived through various kinds of supernatural events and armed themselves to compensate for it. A lot of them didn't even take their training seriously and just believed that they could handle children.

"But, he's in a different league altogether. I can tell that in swordsmanship he was far more skilled and honed due to years of experience. Hayashi has also trained his sense to make up for his lack of sight and was able to react to all of my movements without giving me a single chance to retaliate. Aside from that, those implants of his made him all the more dangerous. I couldn't react at all let alone notice him moving behind me."

If this training wasn't enough, then he would need something that could give him some kind of an edge when the two of them fight again. This was the reason why Kensei had to complete this new technique before fighting with Hayashi Namikaze again. He stood up again and continued to practice and train again, but he didn't plan on this training for the entire day since Sun Wukong would lecture him for not getting enough sleep. Though unknown to Kensei, Xuanzang was watching him with a smile on his face.

* * *

After waking up the next day, Kensei had started doing the stretching that he had been told to do before training by Sun Wukong. He was also dressed in the same gakuran-styled uniform that he packed from his home as well as being the katana that he borrowed from his residence's dojo on his left side. The latter arrived riding on top of Yu-Long and landed in front of him without issues, while the jade dragon remained in his natural form instead of turning into his smaller form.

"Good morning, Sun-sensei."

Kensei respectfully bowed his head with the Monkey King himself patting him on top of his head.

"Good morning, Kensei," Sun Wukong returned the greeting. "Today, we're going to be testing the results of your training so far as well as training your sensing skills using senjutsu."

Hearing that from his instructor caused him to make a confused look since he had just been training for a total of two weeks, but he was also excited about the fact that he would be fighting.

"To do this, we will be going to the mountain where I found you."

"You mean, the mountain filled with several dangerous youkai," Kensei said about a situation that would cause a normal child to be scared, but he wasn't normal as he formed a smile. "Awesome, so is this some kind of test to see how many youkai I can beat?"

"It's something akin to that, but I will explain it in detail after we arrive there."

Sun Wukong said just those words without revealing anything about his idea in this training.

Without saying another word and just exciting about fighting against monsters, Kensei jumped up and landed on top of the head of Yu-Long who lowered down enough to let him do so. After seeing his student excited about the training, Sun Wukong chuckled a bit, then landed on top of the head of Yu-Long and thus giving the signal for the dragon king to fly off towards their intended destination. Having flown at a further enough distance at a far higher altitude, the Monkey King pointed out something to Kensei.

"So, I heard from Xuanzang that you were working on a new technique last night."

Hearing that from Sun Wukong caused Kensei to jump up a bit not expecting for him to be figured out this early.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to lecture you or anything," his response caused Kensei to sigh a bit out of relief. "I'm interested in how he explained what you were doing. Though he couldn't go into full detail, it sounded as if it combined what you learned in the Amagiri Clan and what I taught you."

"Yea, my mom once told me that there have been some people in our clan who modified the Amagiri-ryū to match their preference and this is kind of something similar to that."

Kensei explained causing Sun Wukong to smile a bit.

"Well, if there is anything that you need just ask and I'll assist as much as I can."

The two continued to converse with one another like an actual teacher and student to the point of Yu-Long enjoying listening to the two of them converse like this.

It took just a couple of minutes, but the three of them arrived at a dark location that caused Kensei to shiver up a bit after sensing it. The sensation did feel familiar to him despite him not being conscious at the time where both Sun Wukong and Yu-Long found him. Even if Kensei wasn't informed where he was found, there was no way he could forget this sensation. Based on what he could tell, it expanded out for at least a couple of miles from some of the villages that all of them had just flown past.

After hovering at the top of the mountain, Sun Wukong had informed Yu-Long to stop at this height and he turned to face Kensei.

"Alright, now that we're here, I'll explain the purpose of this training," Sun Wukong started as he turned around to face Kensei. "This mountain, as well as the surrounding area, are filled with at least three-hundred youkai as well as one-hundred demons. Now, little to no humans would dear come near this area since several of their own all started to disappear and those who would come here would at times come to either fight the creatures here or to take some of the fruit or herbs placed somewhere on this mountain."

"You're right, I'm barely able to count the number of creatures that I'm sensing and even trying it starting to make my head hurt just doing it."

Kensei stated as he noticed that the auras of the creatures in the forest and mountain started to appear like blips on a map in his head and counting or locate them would cause him to feel woozy.

"I'm not telling you to defeat all of the creatures on the mountain that would just be too much. Besides a lot of the creatures on this mountain are well beyond your level to handle and that would be possible till you trained until reaching the age of sixteen or older. Kensei what I want you to do is just to sense out the creatures who're near or at your exact level of strength and fight just them while avoiding the ones stronger than you. Though there is no guarantee that you won't at some point come into contact with some creature beyond your level of strength, which is why I'll be sending a couple of insurances for you."

After saying that, Sun Wukong pulled out a couple of strands of his hair off of his head, then blew them off in the air causing them to drift off into several locations in the forest. Afterward, all of them had enlarged and created several clones of the Monkey King himself.

"These clones will be enough to handle the creatures you can't defeat if you run into them and all of the clones will be mostly hidden so that you don't get them to confuse with the others. I'll keep track of your status from on top of Yu-Long here and come to pick you up if you run into serious trouble or get seriously tired."

"Oi oi oi, old man do you expect me to just keep floating up here?!"

"This is the simplest thing that I could ask you to do."

"But, it is boring to just remain afloat up here!"

"Stop being lazy," Sun Wukong replied to Yu-Long who grumbled back at him. "Now, Kensei we'll begin to descend low enough for you to…oh."

As soon as Sun Wukong turned back to face him, Kensei had already jumped off of the back of the jade dragon energetically.

"This is going to be fun!"

Kensei shouted as he descended towards the ground in his unique manner with legendary figures from the Journey of the West to stare down at him.

"Shouldn't we catch him?"

"There's no need for that, he wouldn't jump unless he had a plan on how to land."

Sun Wukong answered the worried question from Yu-Long in a confident manner.

* * *

As Kensei continued free-falling with his arms stretched out while laughing causing both the monkey and dragon to wonder if he did have a plan about how to land. It was then that the ten-year-old realized that he was at a high enough, then turned his body towards the ground and reached into his inner pocket. What he pulled out was one talisman, which had magical characters written in ink on them.

"Come forth wind!"

Kensei called out as he held the talisman in his hands as he chanted, then threw it in the direction of the ground that he was quickly approaching.

As soon as it made it towards the ground, it started letting out a brilliant light and generated a burst of wind at the same moment he was about to hit it. This caused him to float off the ground for a couple of seconds before it vanishing into nothing as soon as its purpose was done, thus letting him land on the ground safely. Once Kensei touched the ground, he started to stretch his arms and legs.

"I'm glad that I brought these talismans from home before leaving," Kensei said as he patted the inside pocket he had all the talisman in. "Now, let's get searching for my first target."

Kensei said outside as he started to focus on sensing for the auras around the area using senjutsu, there were some youkai and demons around his general location. Though there were a lot of them who's stronger than himself meaning that he wasn't allowed to face them, there were three―

"Well well, what a sight to behold~"

"I didn't think that I would see this little brat again."

Behind him was the same spider and wolf youkai who found and attempted to eat him, but were all stopped by Sun Wukong before either could sink their teeth into him. The spider woman looked at him salivating after looking up and down his small frame, while the wolf growled at him. And the third demonic-looking youkai had appeared on the side next to him practically standing over him.

"To think that we would all be running into you like this."

The wolf spoke more difficultly with Kensei noting that there must have been something wrong with his mouth or jaw, possibly even both.

"It must have been your fate to be devoured by us."

The demon standing by him stared down on him in an arrogant manner.

"Ah, Onee-sama is practically salivating by just looking at you~"

And the spider woman was looking at him in a way that made him feel uncomfortable due to how suggestive it sounded. Though while all of them were planning on eating him, he used senjutsu to sense the auras of the three and all of them were at or lower than his level.

"Heh, I've heard that line before," Kensei said as he reached for his katana's hilt. "But, there wasn't a single oni or demon who was able to get in a single bite."

Kensei unsheathed his katana directing it towards the young as he turned towards the three creatures who were all staring him down.

"Thanks to that monkey, my jaw wasn't able to heal right," the wolf growled at Kensei was he took on a prepared stance meant to hunt him down. "To compensate for that, let me gnaw on your bones!"

As soon as the wolf crouched down on the ground, it had jumped toward Kensei opening his mouth not as wide it could before. Despite being pounced at by the wolf, he didn't panic since it was a lot slower than the monsters he fought daily as well as due to his training. Kensei then took on a stance, not from the Amagiri-ryū and instead is one of the Chinese martial art he learned from Sun Wukong. A white light was soon released from him, it was the touki that he was able to use before on Hagun Island, but having trained with Sun Wukong, he gained a better handle on using it.

"Oh, did you learn a new trick, but that's not gonna―!"

Before the wolf could make contact with Kensei, said ten-year-old, launched a short-range yet strong punch that smashed into its face causing it to stop in its tracks. It also felt pain transmit across its entire body from the force of that punch causing blood to drip out from its mouth and nose. Kensei was able to tell that there wasn't as much force behind it despite it being faster than it planned since he just learned the basics of it so he needed touki to be able to generate the necessary force required.

"Hmm, this is Bajiquan."

This was the name of the martial art he learned from Sun Wukong named Bajiquan, an external form of Chinese martial art, which focus on dealing short-range explosive power based on how much one has trained in it. But, he isn't that trained in using bajiquan so he isn't able to to generate the same amount of power, which someone who has mastered it could perform as well as being most famous for its elbows and shoulders strikes.

"Don't get cocky brat!"

The demon roared as he aimed his large fist at Kensei, but he soon noticed that Kensei pointed his free hand in his general direction positioning his finger as if prepared to flick it.

"I, as the Amagiri, release a bullet of wind―Fūtan."

A light started to shine in front of his finger with wind gathering around it, then it took form as a miniature shining object. In a single flicking motion, Kensei fired it at the demon standing in front of him making it come into contact with the demon's stomach forcing it back due to the pressure, but also caused greater damage due to the purification aspect of the spell. It was a basic one taught to kids in the Amagiri Clan known as a "Wind Bullet" to deal with weaker demons and evil spirits.

It wasn't enough to defeat him, which was a fact that Kensei knew, he unsheathed his katana and charged in the direction of the demon.

"Amagiri-ryū: Zanmaken!"

His katana let out a bright light as he charged for the demon and slashed diagonally down the demon's shoulder, which killed him in an instant. The demon landed on the ground motionless showing no sign of life.

"Oh, Onee-sama didn't think that you'd be this rough~!"

Again, the spider woman spoke in a tone that sent a chill down his spine, not due to feeling inferior to her, but as a result of how chilling it sounded.

 _"I swear, every time she talks to me the coldest feelings runs down my spine,"_ Kensei thought as he stared at her with a sideways glance. "Look, I'm not into…creepy spider woman…so step off bitch!"

There was a moment of pause as the face of the spider woman scrunched up as Kensei glanced to the side with an odd look on his face. It was the kind of expression that displayed that those weren't the words that he meant to say out loud and it just came out.

"YOU LITTLE UNRULY BRAT!"

The spider woman exploded as a dark aura radiated from her entire body.

"Why did I say that?!"

Kensei shouted as he jumped out of the way at the same time, in which the woman launched her legs using just enough force to dig into the ground.

"I WAS PLANNING ON MAKING YOU INTO MY LITTLE TOY UNTIL I GOT BORED WITH YOU, BUT NOT I'M GOING TO DRAIN ALL THE FLUIDS IN YOUR ENTIRE BODY!"

"Seriously woman would you just fuck off," Kensei shouted after dodging the purple fluid that was spat out of her mouth and made contact with the tree near him causing the wood to melt. "Wait, didn't grandpa mention this to me before?"

Kensei questioned as he thought back to the words his grandfather said.

'Kensei, there may be a time when you find yourself in a stressful situation and if for whatever reason you end up saying swearing at your opponent. Then there may be sometimes you inherited from your mother. There were some times when Sakura just swears whenever angry or stressed…now that I think back, she does that regardless. Well, in your case it may be defensive.'

"Ah, that may be the case."

Kensei said as he nervously chuckled to himself.

He felt something odd, then moved fast and jumped onto the branch of the tree in front of him and as soon as he did, there was a thick web wrapped around the tree with enough force to crack it.

"Oh~ it's a shame, but I wished that you were older, then Onee-sama would have shown you true pleasure~"

"…."

Kensei went to say something but he stopped, not wanting to get the spider woman again.

From the looks of it, the web also came from her mouth, which means that she could fire off either acidic spit or a strong webbing. This fact was proven as the spider woman spat out poison in his direction melting the branch he stood on top of, then continued as he jumped from branch to branch at a high enough speed that she was unable to get in a clear shot at him.

"You can't keep running little boy~ Just come here into Onee-sama's embrace~"

Kensei didn't respond and thought, he knew from prior experience that he wouldn't be able to get in a clear hit if she were to keep spitting at acid at him. And he didn't want to run the risk of charging in at her in case of some of the droplets of acid spit broke apart and burned him. It wasn't until Kensei glanced at a certain area noticing that there was a familiar shape in the shadows of a tree and jumped down. Seeing him doing that caused the spider woman letting out a creepier laugh and spat out an especially large glob of acidic spit at him. Once he landed on the ground, Kensei picked up that shadowy object and hoisted it up and used it was a shield.

"Hahaha, do you think that rock will be able to…."

"Come forth wind."

Using another talisman, Kensei fired that object in the direction of the spider woman causing her a bit of shock, but it was short-lived as she spat out a large amount of web to act as a shield. This had wrapped the object that he was using as a shield to deflect her acid spit causing her to laugh.

"Hahaha, you gave up your last chance at…huh."

Before she could finish gloating, the spider woman realized that the object used as the body of her comrade, the wolf that Kensei sent flying, who had died as a child of the acid spit.

"Y-You used his body as a shield! What kind of child are….?"

She questioned as she glared at Kensei, but he wasn't in front of her eyes anymore, he wasn't there anymore.

Before long, she felt something stepping on her from behind, before a blade was stabbed into her chest piercing her heart. It was revealed to be Kensei who had used Hiei, a speed technique used in the Amagiri-ryū, in which the user steps out of their opponent's line of sight, then rushes at them aiming at their blindside.

"Why should I go easy on the people trying to kill me?"

"Y-You aren't a normal child."

"Amagiri-ryū: Enzan."

Instead of giving her a response, Kensei channeled ki into his katana, then converted it into flames thus causing the young woman's wound to be set on fire, which soon spread across her entire body even after he removed it from her. From his first short couple of minutes there, he defeated three of the monsters who had tried to kill him.

"Well, that's three creatures of the forest down. Let's see how many more I can beat before the days done."

Having said those words to himself, Kensei began venturing around the forest filled with dangerous creatures.

* * *

Several minutes to at least two hours has passed with Kensei since Kensei landed in this mountain. In that period, he found himself running into several monstrous creatures that he had zero chance against just like Sun Wukong had informed him about. In situations like that, he used senjutsu to hide from them, but based on several words from them, a lot of them smelled a mysterious scent from him. Though Kensei could hide in some of the foliage that gave off a stronger scent that kept his hidden.

He also ran into several demons and youkai who were at his level then was able to defeat them, in the end, using what he learned. Though there were some situations where he was able to just knock them out instead of being forced to kill them. A lot of the creatures attacked him without notice not letting him say a single word, but others he challenged to a fight. As such, Kensei didn't have a reason to kill the latter aside from the former who attacked with the pure and simple intent to kill him.

In situations like minutes before where he was unable to run from a stronger creature, one of the clones of Sun Wukong or several of them jumped in to handle it, letting Kensei escape. After the incident, he was sitting on top of a tree that was near a riverbed holding onto a piece of fruit that he picked up off the three. The moment that he took a bite out of it, he was overcome with a sudden sweetness that attacked his taste buds and the juiciness quenched his thirst. Of course, there was fruit that a lot of looks edible, but Sun Wukong told him all the locations where the fruit wasn't poisonous as well as what the inedible fruit looked like.

"Hmm, this is tastier than I thought it would be," Kensei hummed in a manner that looked like any other child his age as he took another bite out of the fruit. "I'm startin' to get used to using senjutsu to sense things."

The sweet fruit was enough for him to almost forget about what he doing there, but then a sudden out of nowhere thought entered his head. Kensei thought back to the conversation that he had with Amaterasu.

"I wonder when I will hear from Amaterasu-sama."

Kensei thought back to her stating that she'd sent a spirit to tell him about when they found a lead in the locations of the magic-circle leading to Hagun Island. Though as that thought entered his mind, there was a sudden noise coming from somewhere around him. It didn't seem to come from the impact of someone's power or aura since he was unable to sense anything using senjutsu, but it instead came from incredible strength.

"I do sense something powerful over there, but there is also some…humans there."

Kensei knew that whatever was attacking them wasn't something that he could fight, but there was a far greater feeling that overcomes. Without thinking about the consequences, he jumped off of the tree in the direction of the others using them as a means of getting to the location.

 _"I know Sun-sensei said that I shouldn't fight stronger monsters, but I can't just leave those people there."_

Kensei thought to himself as he realized that this went against what Sun Wukong had told him not to do, but he is unable to leave people there to be attacked.

He continued to head in the direction of the source of the battle, which Kensei realizing that it was alongside the riverbed that he was nearby. Once he made it to the location where the commotion was coming from, the scene came into full view and caused him to at it in wonder. Along the riverside with its long serpentine body that looked a lot like that of Yu-Long, but it had darkish gray scales as well as not having an aura as strong or dense as the dragon king, but it doesn't change the fact of what it is.

"A dragon?"

Kensei looked and noticed that there was an eastern dragon in front of him. Standing in front of the dragon were a large number of people that the guest came from the nearby village. Around them, there were people dressed in Chinese themed clothing as well as some of them being armed with weapons such as metal staves and swords. Standing behind them were people dressed in normal grabs and a lot of them carrying a sack filled with what he believed were herbs and plants.

It was just as Kensei was told from Sun Wukong, some villagers would risk anything just to come to the mountains for various necessities.

(Don't let the dragon get to the villagers behind us. There are people in hometown in desperate need of all of the herbs were gathered.)

Kensei noticed that they were speaking Chinese, which due to all the lessons courtesy of Xuanzang, he was able to somewhat understand what a lot of them were saying.

(I know that, but it's not like it'll just let us run away.)

(That's why some of us will remain here and keep it at bay.)

Their plan made sense, but it wouldn't be a guarantee that none of them would be able to fend it off long enough to let the others get away in time. After making his decision Kensei started to get himself prepared.

(No, we can't ask any of you to do that.)

(There are a lot of people who needs those medical herbs and if sacrificing ourselves that everyone will get them, then that is a risk that I'm willing to make.)

(He's right!)

(Yes!)

After making their decision, the martial arts began to fire themselves up to face the dragon standing in front of all them. The dragon had decided not to wait anymore charged in the direction of the martial artists and villagers in an attempt at barring its fangs at them. Before it could move there was a sudden object thrown using just enough force that it was able to catch its attention.

(Was that a piece of fruit?)

(Who threw it?)

"That which is born from the clouds, descend and shock thine enemies."

Thrown in the air around the dragon were several talismans, which formed a pentagram and soon gave off a light, a large amount of lightning was brought down on top of it. Several bolts of electricity were sent throughout its body shocking it. Afterward, Kensei stood in front of all of them pointed his katana at the dragon who was shocked by the attack brought down on top of it.

(I…hold it all…so all of you leave.)

Kensei spot in some of the Chinese he learned from Xuanzang, but he couldn't say that he was fluent in it, but it was just enough for him to send his message to them.

(This isn't the time for jokes!)

(There's no way, that we're leaving a child to fight for us!)

He was unable to get all of the people behind him to leave this to him, but Kensei wasn't able to blame them as he was indeed a child in their eyes. There wasn't a single thing that he could think up to convince them to leave, but there was something that he could do. He focused his ki into his blade causing it to shine with a bright white light, then he brandishes his sword releasing a slash of ki that came into contact with the dragon.

(Did he just use his chi?)

(A child his age?)

(Maybe he isn't a normal child.)

Kensei could hear the words coming from them, then he turned towards them with his eyes radiating a strong fighting spirit. All of the martial artist behind him could sense his resolve to fight and none of them were at all able to question him.

(Those carrying the herbs will run in the middle along with us.)

(Are you seriously leaving this child here to fight alone?)

One of the villagers questioned.

(I hate to admit this, but he is the only one who has a chance against this dragon.)

(We can't let the chance he gave us slip.)

The martial artist had talked back causing the villagers to reluctantly agree with them, but they looked back at the child as he stood and faced the child. Though as planned, all of them followed the martial artists who acted as all their guards.

Seconds later, the dragon recovered from being stunned and charged forwards towards the villagers again, then Kensei directed his sword downwards with its point touching the surface of the river. Then he after took a single breath, he rushed in the direction of the dragon with both his hands positioned on the hilt of his katana. Using his touki, Kensei raised his physical abilities and channeled ki into his blade causing it to shine with a bright light. He focuses his strength into his legs and rushed, then jumped in the direction of the dragon.

"Amagiri-ryū: Zanmaken!"

Kensei brandished his sword aiming at the face of the dragon causing a wound that caught its attention, forcing him to face away from the villagers and martial artists letting him escape. Once he landed on the ground, he had jumped into the ground at the same moment that the dragon aimed its tail at him in a manner like a whip. Kensei was able to avoid it, but its tail continued knocking away several trees.

 _"This thing is stronger than all the monsters that I faced in the Gehenna Tournament."_

It the air, he channeled ki into his blade again and released a slash in the direction of the dragon hitting its face while causing an explosion that blinded it for a moment. Once he landed on the ground, Kensei rushed towards the dragon with his blade in his hand, while reaching into his pocket and pulling out talismans. At the same time, the dragon regained its vision and again aimed its tail towards Kensei. Following the timing, he threw his talisman in the direction of the tail and formed a barrier in front of him.

Slam! Crack!

As soon as its tail came into contact with the barrier, Kensei jumped over its tail and started to let out a series of slashes into the back of the dragon, but none of the attacks were barely able to make a dent.

Crack!

After a while, several shards flew into the air, it originated from the edge of the katana, causing Kensei to stare at the chipped edges of his edge. Though he had channeled his ki into the blade, his katana still cracked after it had come into contact with its scales. After noticing the dragon beginning to move and aimed the tip of its tail at him, Kensei propelled himself away from the dragon. It resulted in Kensei landed in the river and the dragon turned in his direction and started to slam its tail down several times causing the ground to shake. Though he was able to avoid its tail, the dragon continued to slam its tail onto the ground confusing the young boy.

Shake! Spike!

Once Kensei heard and felt the ground below him shake, then an earth spike was aimed at him forcing Kensei to use his katana to block the point of the spike. Though he was forced off the ground and pushed into the air which left him no almost little option to avoid other attacks aimed at him. Before he knew it, the dragon had fired several earth bullets at him while he remained in the air. Without any other option to defend himself, he wrapped himself in touki to defend himself from the onslaught of earth bullets, but he could still feel the force behind the attacks.

A cloud of smoke was formed in the air due to all the earth bullets aimed at him, then he fell towards the ground still wrapped in his touki. Falling along with him was the broken half of his katana, while the hilt, which still had a blade attached to it remained grasped in his right hand. The dragon stared at Kensei who had his eyes closed in a manner that caused it to believe he lost consciousness, leaving its victory assured its posture surfaced.

"…!"

In a single moment, his eyes shot open and reached his left hand towards the broken half of his blade at the part where the blade had broken off. And he used the same spell from beforehand.

"I, as the Amagiri, release a bullet of wind―Fūtan."

Kensei fired off another wind bullet, but this time, he used it to launch his broken blade towards the dragon and it was stabbed in the dragon's eye.

"Raaaaaawr!"

The dragon let out a painful scream as its eye had been pierced by a blade with blood oozing out from its wound, which caused the dragon to go berserk.

At the same moment, Kensei landed on the ground letting out a painful grunt, but there wasn't much damage due to him using his touki. But, the impact from all the rock bullets did rough him up a bit causing bruises and caused him to let out a series of painful breaths. Though he was unable to remain on the ground for long as the dragon rushed at him with the intent of devouring him, which caused Kensei to push himself off the ground as the dragon bit into the ground where he laid.

The dragon unstuck himself on the ground crushing the rocks that were in its mouth and continued to pursue its target caught up in its wrath. A darkish gray aura started to radiate from it causing a shivering sensation to run down his spine as the dragon also seemed to break under its pressure. And through the use of senjutsu, he was able to tell that it was way different from before. This caused him to recall something his mother said.

'Kensei among all the creatures in this world. I believe dragons are ones you should be careful angering even if it is a low-class one, dragons will continue to pursue their target, even more, fiercer and stronger than before.'

"This is what my mom meant about that."

Kensei was unable to consider it anymore as the dragon continued to pursue him and aimed its tail at him, then using whatever of his katana was left, he blocked its assault and braced himself for its result. But, the impact was enough to send him back into a nearby tree cracking it on contact. Not wanting to fall, he used the tree as leverage to keep that from happening.

"This is my first time fighting a dragon and I can see where mom was coming from."

Kensei breathed out as he bent towards the ground as the dragon charged at him.

He could still feel the pain on his back and that would keep him from moving as fast as before, but the dragon is in hot pursuit of him. As he thought about what to do next, his mind went back towards what he had been trying to complete for the last couple days.

 _"I wonder if I can pull it off."_

Kensei thought as he got into the position that he used during his training, then at around the same moment as the dragon would have bitten into him.

Suddenly, the dragon felt the tree that Kensei was standing in front of him breaking under the pressure of its jaws and break into several pieces. But, it couldn't feel the bones of a person breaking nor his blood entering its mouth a taste that he recalled from others it has eaten. The dragon uprooted what remained of the tree and threw it a far distance and looked for Kensei who seemed to vanish.

"That which is born from the clouds, descend and shock thine enemies!"

Kensei once again threw his talisman into the air forming a pentagram, then a lightning bolt came out from it, hitting the broken half of the blade that remained in its eye sending a bolt of lightning into it.

"Raaaaaawr!"

The dragon let out a painful roar that seemed to travel a great distance causing the nearby birds and animals in the air to fly or run away from the area. Kensei was revealed to be in the dragon's blind spot holding his hand out in its direction and let out a couple of breaths as he sat in the river. From that last attack, the dragon fell onto the ground motionless.

"*Sigh* That was tough. I thought that this thing was going to kill…me."

Once those words left his mouth, Kensei heard the dragon moving again and turned towards him angrier than it was beforehand. It roared again and caused at the young child who stood up again pointing what remained of his katana at it. Though there was something that neither Kensei or the dragon expected. From the skies above the dragon, a larger creature covered in jade scales crashed down on top of it causing the dragon to shake to where he was lifted into the ground due to the impact.

It was revealed to be Yu-Long who used his dragon claws to slam the dragon's head into the ground causing its blood to spurt out from its mouth.

"Oi oi oi, I'm not letting you kill this kid," Yu-Long said defensively. "He's the only one that I can have a normal talk with aside from the old men and he bought me good food."

Kensei laughed a bit after hearing Yu-Long's reasoning, but he later witnessed Sun Wukong who stood on top of the dragon's head jump down and landed in front of his student.

He was unable to tell what kind of look that Sun Wukong was making, due to his black shades, but there was an intense presence looming off of him.

 _"He looks pissed! Is this mad that I disobeyed him?!"_

Kensei wondered as Sun Wukong continued to walk towards him causing the young child to bow his head apologetically.

"I told you not to fight the creatures stronger than you," Sun Wukong said in a tone that displayed what he felt about the manner. "And then you go around and disobey me and fought against this dragon almost getting yourself killed in the process. If Yu-Long and I didn't step in then you may have died and left all those kids on the island including that little girl you cherished. Kensei, will you fully accept the consequences of your actions?"

"…yes."

It wasn't the kind of response that would sound halfhearted, but he didn't regret what he did and was happy that he was able to rescue those people from the dragon. It was something that he would do again even if he were to redo this situation many times. And he was already prepared to accept whatever punishment that he was about to be dealt for disobeying the instructions of his teacher.

"Alright, then here it comes."

Sun Wukong raised his head, however, instead of bonking him on the head like he had done before whenever he had done something wrong. He instead petted Kensei on the head in a gentle manner causing the ten-year-old to look and noticed the proud smirk on the face of his instructor.

"I'm glad that I don't have the kind of disciple who would just abandon people in desperate need of help. Though some people would've followed an order like that without hesitation if it came from someone with a higher position like mine, there are times when one needs to disobey and request to save another life no matter the punishment that they would receive in the end."

"The old man does still have that mischievous side of himself from his youth. You should have seen him after you jumped in to rescue those humans."

Hearing those words from someone such as Sun Wukong hit Kensei in a certain spot as well as the testimony of Yu-Long who removed his hand from the dragon that he knocked out. It was enough to almost make Kensei tear up a bit, but he held it in and instead gave a big childish smirk after being praised like that.

"Wait, where those villagers able to get away?"

"You don't have to worry about that. The villagers almost ran into monsters, but I sent my clones to handle all of them before they ran into them. All of them were able to make it back to their home and you may have saved a lot more people due to them taking those herbs home."

"That's good," Kensei said with a gentle smile before glancing at his broken katana. "Though, I'll need a katana to replace the one that broke."

"Well, then I have some good news. Xuanzang had sent a message and informed me that the Chief-God of the Shinto Faction had requested that you return and meet one of their faction's important assets who just so happen to be a famous swordsmith. As well as to inform you that they found what you're looking for. So, I think that it will be a good idea to leave out tomorrow."

Hearing those words caused Kensei to feel a sudden hint of jubilation and thanked Amaterasu. Slowly, but surely he was getting closer and closer to being able to see everyone again, but there was a part of him that was also a bit interested in the identity of this swordsmith who had just a high standing with the other Shinto gods.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the tenth chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, in this chapter we went back to Kensei who was training with the Monkey King himself and showed a lot of progress in learning senjutsu. There were also a lot of things that he was learning from Xuanzang, while Yu-Long laid on the sidelines. Kensei later returned to the forest and showed his progress against the monsters who almost killed him after he was first sent there to die. He also put up a decent fight against the dragon was that attacking the people from the village. In the end, Kensei was saved and praised by both Sun Wukong and Yu-Long. And in the end, he was given some interesting information.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah,** **Minako** **, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.**


	11. The Immortal Swordsmith

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Rider126: Thanks for that. He will have another weapon in the future, but that will be revealed later along with something else. And yea, I think that him having a divine weapon such as Ame-no-Nobuko would be a little much.**

 **Sonic: Thanks.**

* * *

 **The Immortal Swordsmith**

As promised, it was around tomorrow evening with Kensei riding on top of Yu-Long in his large form similar to as he had done before. And just like at that time, the two of them were alone soaring through the clouds out of view from the people down below. Though Kensei was riding on top of Yu-Long dressed in the same cloak, which has been enchanted to hide his presence, it could be seen that he was visibly jumping up and down almost unable to contain his excitement.

"Huh? Are you that excitement, I mean you haven't stopped doing that since almost an hour ago?"

Yu-Long questioned not in irritation, but out of wonder.

"I'm sorry, but I just can't help it," he said in a cheerful tone that a kid would do and say. "I'm getting a clue to the location of everyone on Hagun Island and I may also be getting a brand new sword from this swordsmith."

"You know, if I didn't get the chance to know you, then I would've said that it was weird hearing that coming from you," Yu-Long replied. "I guess that it's not that weird considering the kind of person you are. But, I wonder what kind of person this swordsmith is to have the trust of the Chief-God."

"Have you ever met a swordsmith like that?"

"I can't recall ever meeting one before. There was never a need for me to encounter one," Yu-Long replied. "But, I know that if ones affiliated with gods, then they must have been heard about in some legends. Can you think of a swordsmith whose that famous?"

"I mean, I can think of several…even these days there are at least a couple of normal swordsmiths, but the ones that come to mind first are Gorō Nyūdō Masamune and Sengo Muramasa," Kensei answered. "Those two are the ones who people tend to think about first whenever asking about swordsmith, they're most famous for forging a holy and demon sword respectively. I think that at least one of the two swords is still around somewhere inside Japan, but I no one knows their precise location."

"Hmm, is that it?"

"No, there is one more, even more, famous swordsmith, but no one around the other clans around Japan has ever encountered him before. If they did, then they certainly never told anyone about it."

Kensei answered honestly.

For most of his life, he was told several stories about the figures in their faction by his mother and grandfather. It was also a basic lesson that all the other kids had heard several times. During those times, a lot of them learned things about the Shinto Faction, as well as, the legendary figures who were well-respected and memorable due to all their previous exploits.

"So who was this swordsmith?"

"Oh, his names, Ama…whoa!"

Kensei was unable to give his answer to Yu-Long as he dove downwards suddenly without warning causing the ten-year-old riding on his back to brace himself. It was then that the jade dragon has returned to normal balance causing his passenger to let out a calm breath.

"What was that for? If you want to do tricks like that in the air, then give me a warning first."

"I'm sorry about that, but we made it to our destination."

Hearing that from Yu-Long caused Kensei to look down and noticed that they were above a town, which was a little further from Kibou Town. A lot like it, there was a nearby forested area nearby that looked thick enough for a person to get lost in if they didn't know where to go. Aside from getting a clear view of everyone on the ground from the sky, Kensei wanted to look for a place where the two of them could land without getting seen. Though he did see an alleyway that the two of would be able to land without being seen, but the problem was that Yu-Long wouldn't be able to fit.

"Yu-Long if we want to land, then you'll have to shrine, while I jump down."

"Alright."

Yu-Long had agreed without worrying about how the landing would impact him from this height. If he were to get even the slightest bit lower, the height would be able to injure or kill a full-grown man, but due to the conditioning training that Kensei had undergone combined with him learning how to strengthen his bodies' physical abilities by using ki. There was also the fact that he was able to handle the landing from an even greater height yesterday at the mountains without flinching.

* * *

Moments later, as planned, Yu-Long has shrunken down into his miniature form and went inside of the cloak and wrapped around his neck. At around the same time, Kensei started to fall towards the ground and focused his senjutsu on strengthening his leg to brace himself for the impact. Soon enough, he landed on the roof of one of the buildings near the alleyway before jumping down and landed in it.

"Well, that went well."

Kensei said as he stretched his legs after jumping on the ground like that.

Soon enough, Kensei stepped outside of the alleyway after putting on the hood to cover his face just in case any of the people who knew him spotted him out; or if anyone who was somewhat related to Hagun noticed and had recognized him from all his matches. Before arriving here, he was given the details by Xuanzang and as such, he knew the locations where he was supposed to meet and headed in that direction. It was in the same direction as the forest, which he could tell was giving an odd feeling since he was now using senjutsu to see if he could sense anything off coming from there.

"Hmm, I see that you're getting used to using senjutsu."

"It's not like I've mastered it yet," Kensei stated as he walked in towards there. "There is a limit to how far I'm able to sense and if I were to attempt to sense any further, then it won't be clear enough for a clear read. I wonder if Hisui would be able to do this a lot better than me."

"Hisui," Yu-Long questioned before recalling what he had told them prior. "…ah, you mentioned that she was one of your friends that you mentioned before."

"Yea, Hisui always said that she was far more receptive and sensitive to the ki of other people. I'm sure that you and she would get along, seeing how both your names in some ways means 'Jade' with your scales and her hair also being jade. The two of you can also be kinda playful at times."

Kensei pointed out in an almost teasing manner causing the dragon wrapped around his neck to grumble a little after hearing those words.

Taking note of what caused the young ten-year-old to laugh a little since it would be the first time that Kensei had an upper hand against the dragon who made jokes at him from time to time. As he continued to walk forward, he noticed that some people were taking some odd glances at him and it wasn't at all a surprise since he was dressed in nothing but a cloak. Of course, there would be a lot of people looking at him oddly, but there wasn't a single person who spoke out about it. Again who would speak up against a person dressed like this?

Kensei continued to proceed forward until he had noticed something odd occur in front of him, which caused Yu-Long to slightly poke his head out, but not enough to reveal himself. In front of them was an elderly looking man in traditional Japanese clothing such as a black yukata born after a darkish green robe and wooden geta along with a wooden cane, which seemed to be handmade. Kensei was able to tell the old man was hunched over moaning and groaning about something under his breath.

"Oi, what happened to him?"

Yu-Long questioned as he noticed the old man sitting down on the ground.

Without answering him, Kensei started to approach the hunched over old man, while being able to tell that there were other worried about him but continued on their merry way. Having made it in front of the old man, said old man glanced in his direction showing Kensei a disgruntled look.

"What's wrong, Jii-san?"

Kensei first questioned in a respectful tone causing the old man to let out a sigh.

"I was walking down the street heading to the store and I realized that my wallet had been pickpocketed."

He heard the old man talk about how his wallet was taken from him without his knowledge causing Kensei to get into a thinking position. Based on what he was told, the old man himself didn't know who had stolen it from him let alone when it was stolen.

"Well, if it's just that, then I guess that I could use some of my money to purchase whatever you needed."

"N-No, I need that wallet back," he was surprised by how the old man raised his voice. "Inside of that wallet is the last photo of my late son and wife…it is the last photo that I have of either of them. "

Kensei could tell that the old man sounded a little desperate about finding his wallet, but he couldn't think of an easier way to finding who pickpocketed the old man. He had realized that he was supposed to meet up with this swordsmith first, but he couldn't just ignore the old man in distress.

"Hey, I know that you don't want to turn down an old man. But, you're kinda busy at the moment."

Yu-Long himself realized that Kensei was thinking about assisting the old man, but reminded him that they were on an important matter they had to attend to.

"I know that, but I can't just turn down this desperate old man," Kensei whispered to the jade dragon. "I think that I have an idea of how to find them."

"Oh, thank you! I promise I'll return this favor."

He could hear that happiness from the old man's tone.

"Okay, then let's go."

"Huh?"

The old man questioned not knowing what Kensei was talking about, as he gave a wide grin.

* * *

Moments after his encounter with the old man, Kensei had walked around different parts of town at a mild pace as he searched for the people who stole his wallet. As he ran around, he was catching the attention of many people on the streets who had their eyes opened wide about the situation. Kensei could run at a much faster pace to the point where he seemed almost like a blur, but that wasn't what surprised them.

"Now, where are those guys?"

"…uh, young man are you sure about this?"

"About what?"

Kensei questioned in confusion as if not noticing anything wrong.

"I mean, are you alright with doing this?"

"Doing what?"

He was still confused about what the old man was referring to.

As he ran down the street, Kensei was carrying the old man on his back, who had his arms wrapped around him so that he wouldn't fall back. Yu-Long almost felt like laughing about how nonchalant the ten-year-old was about carrying around the older man on his back like nothing, while still being able to run around unhindered.

"I mean are you fine with carrying me around like this?"

"Oh, is that what you were talking about? I'm fine, I'm a lot stronger than other children my age."

Kensei spoke in a confident tone as he continued to run down the street.

[Kensei how do you plan on helping this old man?]

Yu-Long asked via forming a link with his mind without letting them talk without the old man hear them, though it caused Kensei a bit of surprise, he continued.

[Huh, I didn't know that you could do this?] Kensei replied as he continued to look on ahead in front of him. [Well, that aside. I planned on having you assist me in doing that.]

[Huh? What am I supposed to do?]

Yu-Long questioned in confusion after that request was made by Kensei.

[Don't dragons have greater senses compared to even most youkai? If this Jii-san's wallet still has his scent on it, then wouldn't you be able to pick it up?]

[So, you plan to continue running about until I pick up the old man's scent from his wallet?]

[Pretty much.]

Kensei replied in their telepathic talk causing Yu-Long to let out a bit of an internal sigh.

[I guess that is better than nothing, but I won't promise anything. It'll be difficult to locate one human scent among the others around here.]

Yu-Long replied as he began to sniff around the area, while Kensei continued to run around the entire area at a quickened pace.

[Wait. Stop here!]

Hearing the sudden reaction from Yu-Long, Kensei had stopped in his tracks causing the old man on his back to fall forward with his chin almost hitting the ten-year-old's head.

"What is it, young man?"

The old man questioned in a surprised manner.

Kensei didn't want to ignore the man, but he was too focused on Yu-Long telling him about the predicament that they were in at the moment.

[Kensei in the alleyway next to you, there is a slight scent similar to this old man wafting from there.]

As instructed, he turned his attention towards the entrance leading into the alleyway right beside him, Kensei had soon stopped near one of the walls and placed the old man on the ground.

"I think that the people that stole your wallet is inside of this alley. So, you just wait here until I come back."

Kensei explained to the old man as much as he was able to without revealing anything else.

The old man just looked at him with a curious look on his face, but he just nodded his head in agreement unable to do anything else about the situation. And just as promised, Kensei started to venture instead of the alleyway in a calm manner not caring at all about what could happen.

[How do you exactly plan on fighting these guys?]

Kensei knew what Yu-Long meant, if the enemies were just normal human thugs, then there wouldn't be an issue for him to take back a wallet for an old man.

"I know how to deal with a couple of humans…it wouldn't be my first time."

He replied in an almost too confident manner causing even Yu-Long to give a wryly smirk.

[You seem almost too smug about that.]

Kensei didn't give a single response as he noticed that a certain smell that made it into his nose and forced him to pinch his nose closed for a moment.

* * *

"Well, this is it."

He stopped and made it in front of a couple of older man possibly in their late teens dressed in clothing not out of place for most troublemakers. Most of them were even smoking cigarettes, which coupled with the smell from the dumpster made the alleyway stink even more.

"How can people hang out in a place like this? This stinks."

"Huh? Oi, there's a brat here!"

"What?"

After realizing the presence of Kensei, all the other guys started to take notice of his presence one by one almost as if they were linked to each other. Soon enough, the largest male among them with a nose piercing started to approach Kensei and it displayed the grand height difference between them.

"This isn't a place for kids. So, you should leave."

"No can do," Kensei replied as he stepped on the side of the large male and breathed in. "Hey, did anyone of you steal a wallet from an old man?!"

Kensei's voice echoed all over the alleyway causing everyone inside of it to hear his question.

There was a silence between all of them before one of them wearing a hat on his head walked up and went past the large male in front of Kensei.

"What're you going to do if I said, yes?"

"Then I'll have to ask that you return it. Didn't your mothers taught you that it wasn't nice to steal?"

"Didn't your mother teach you that it wasn't smart to hand around dangerous guys like you?"

The hat-wearing male answered with another question, then started to continue patting Kensei on top of his head repeatedly in a joking and patronizing manner. Before his hand could touch the top of his head again, Kensei had reached his hand out stopped it grasping the hand's wrist.

"She told me that if I saw guys like you picking on someone who couldn't defend themselves to soundly kick their asses."

Kensei answered dangerously as he tightened his grip on the man's wrist causing him to wince a bit, then snatched it out from the child's grip.

"Damn brat!"

Without hesitating, the hat-wearing male kicked Kensei in the stomach causing him to be sent backward landing on the ground. In response to that, the other guys who witnessed it started to laugh out loud enough for the noise to almost echoing along the walls of the alleyway.

"Seriously, did you have to be so rough with the kid?"

"Hahaha, I mean the brat had it coming!"

"Did you hear the mouth on him?!"

"So what if we stole from an old man?!"

Kensei continued to lay on the ground staring into the skies before letting out a slight sigh, then lifted his legs and vaulted himself back to his feet without trying.

"Jeez, this floor is messy."

He stated calmly as he dusted the dirt that stained the white cloak that he had been given, not caring at all about being kicking in the stomach.

"What the hell?"

The male who kicked him questioned as he glared at him with great annoyance.

"Hahaha, did you go easy on the brat?"

"Either that or he's just too weak to injure this kid."

 _"I mean, they're not exactly wrong."_

Kensei thought as he recalled all the hits that he took in the past, which even a grown human male wouldn't at all be able to handle. In response to his friends making jokes at him, the hat-wearing male approached Kensei again this time with his fist pulled back.

"This time I'll clobber you brat!"

He roared as he threw a punch in his direction.

Kensei stepped aside letting the man run pass him, then grabbed onto his wrist again and kicked the back of his leg at the same time in a nonchalant manner.

"Argh!"

He let out a loud grunt as he kneeled on the ground with Kensei still holding onto his wrist with a tight grip, which felt as if the circulation of his blood would cease. Without letting him utter a single work, Kensei struck the man at the back of his neck in a swift maneuver knocking him out. As their friend felt to the dirt-filled ground, none of the older males could speak a single work as Kensei started to go through his pockets and picked out a wallet.

"Hmmm."

Kensei started going through the contents of the wallet, but it didn't seem like something that an old man would carry around. After realizing that it wasn't the old man's wallet, he threw it to the ground without looking back and it landed on the owner. He soon started at the other guys and started to count how many there were.

"Ah, I there are nine of you guys…counting this guy, then there's ten."

Upon finishing that count, Kensei held up ten fingers then counted one finger off with a confident smirk.

"That gives you nine more chances, to tell the truth, or I'll make ya regret it."

After hearing that provocation from the ten-year-old in front of them caused veins to be to pop on the heads of the eight men who were left expect from the largest man. Each of them looked around and picked started to pick of discarded pipes and three of them even had had a metal bat in their hands. Sighing to himself with a bit of annoyance for the young child, the largest man stepped aside as if permitting the others to attack.

And like a pack of rabid dogs, the eight-armed men started to rush at Kensei all at once with their weapons in the palms of their hands.

"Alright, I guess that its time to start practicing my hakkyokuken."

 **TN: Hakkyokuken is the Japanese translation for Bajiquan.**

Kensei stated confidently as he took on a prepared stance as the older armed male started to rush at him. The first one aimed his metal pipe towards the young child without mercy, but due to his moves being that of a novice, it wasn't at all difficult for him to avoid it. In a single motion, he thrust his fist forward into his stomach in a quick manner causing him to gasp as the air left his lungs. His body soon went limp on the ground and his pipe landed on the ground causing a metallic noise.

This time two people rushed toward him at the same time bringing both their metal pipes downwards at Kensei in a strong manner with all their strength. Thinking that there was no way that he could avoid it, they were confident that this could be it. However, the ten-year-old smirked and reached his hand out and caught both metal pipes in his hands without injuring his hands in the slightest.

"What…."

"…the hell….?!"

Kensei pulled the metal pipes in their hands causing them to fall forward in his direction, then he brought both his elbows forward-thrusting them into their abdomen.

""Gah.""

The impact caused them to pass out, then fell onto the ground next to their friends.

"That's three more…seven to go."

"Tsk."

There were many noises caused by the clicking of their tongues, then came the sound of their metal pipes hitting the ground. At that moment, the rest of them started to reach in their pockets revealing pocket knives that all of them pointed threateningly in his direction. Again, all of them rushed towards Kensei, who didn't look fazed in the slightest, then he kicked the metal pipe into the air and caught in his hands.

Kensei spun it around in his hand in a skillful manner as the men armed with knives came in his direction, then in a single brandish of the metal pipe, he knocked the knives out of the first male's hands.

"Huh?"

"Should've kept the metal pipes, knives have a terrible reach unless you know how to use it."

Kensei had informed them after thrusting the staff into one of their abdomens, while spinning the over one around in a skillful manner, then struck the other one in the back causing both to fall forward unconscious.

"Five."

The remaining four-armed older males charged in his direction, in response to that, Kensei positioned the pipe in a downward position and rushed towards the group. And at a speed that neither of them could keep up with their eyes, he knocked out all the four of them in a fluid manner and all of them soon fell over. After he finished off the four armed men, Kensei realized that he unknowingly ran passed the larger male.

"And there's one left…."

Click.

Before Kensei could turn around, he noticed a familiar clicking noise and he didn't need to turn around to realize that it was a handgun that the large male had pulled out.

"Alright, put that pipe down and calm down."

"You're seriously going to shoot a harmless kid."

"Huh? Harmless," the large male scoffed at Kensei's 'innocent' act. "There's no way that a little brat like you is at all normal, I may be doing this place a service by pulling this trigger."

Kensei couldn't tell whether or not the older male was serious or not since it neither wavered in the slightest and it remained as serious as before. It wouldn't surprise him at all if he were to pull the trigger and put a bullet inside the chamber in his forehead. Not that it mattered anyway, based on the distance between them, Kensei would be able to avoid the bullet before it makes contact with him.

That was the first logical thought that crossed his mind as he dropped the metal pipe on the ground causing the metallic ringing that echoed along with walls.

 _"If I were by myself without no one else around, then I would be able to deal with it,"_ Kensei thought. _"There are a lot of people passing by this alley plus that Jii-san is still sitting near the entrance. …Though if possible…."_

"Now turn around slowly."

Kensei did as ordered and started to turn himself around in a gentle manner with a plan already in mind.

 _"If I can cast a Fūtan without a chant at the lowest level of power, then I could knock him out without either killing or injuring him in the process."_

Moments before fully turning himself around, he motioned his finger in the right manner to release a wind bullet at the armed large male. However, there was a slight distraction that caught his attention.

"Here catch this young man!"

A familiar shout caught his attention as a familiar object was thrown into the air over the head of the large male in a quick manner. It was the cane that belonged to the old man, but the first thing that caught his attention was the slight gleam revealing a metallic inside. Kensei reacts faster than the large male and ran towards the falling wood cane and caught it in his hand, then placed his hand on the bottom portion of it.

"Son of a…."

The large man glanced in the direction of Kensei and prepared to pull the trigger until…his gun was sliced clean in two barely crazing his hand.

His expression finally altered as he realized that the object in his hand wasn't a wooden cane and was instead a single-edged sword. Kensei realized it as soon as he saw the blade revealed in the can and knew that this was indeed a shikomizue, a sword that can be concealed as a walking stick or cane. He later looked passed the large male and noticing that the old man was standing at the entrance of the alleyway with his hand held out signifying that he had thrown the cane.

"Dammit."

The large male reaches in his pocket in an attempt to pull out something else to defend himself and Kensei became incredibly shocked. Not by the fact that the large man was pulling out another weapon, but that the old man was now out of his line of sight.

"Argh!"

Kensei turned to the large male who wailed in pain after having his wrist grasped with enough pressure to cause him to wine like a child. The old man was able to appear next to him without making a single noise and without it even being seen by Kensei himself. That wasn't all, the old man wasn't slouching like he had done when he first met him and was instead standing up straight seemingly with the vitality of a young man.

"Hmm, I don't think that it would be wise to attack a child…especially, since you lot caused this in the first place."

His tone of voice was also different from before and was now confident enough to think that it belonging to that of a hardened fighter.

"Oi, Jii-san are you some kind of old master?"

Kensei bluntly asked as he sheathed the shikomizue that he received from the old man.

"Oh, of course, not…well, it depends on the kind of master that you're inferring about."

Despite saying that, the old man threw the larger male using one hand in a manner that resembled a practitioner of a self-defense martial art such as Judo. The impact of having landed on the ground along with his weight being added onto it caused the larger male to pass out.

"I just picked up a lot of things from living this long. Sorry about making you think that I was defenseless."

"Well, you could've fooled me."

Kensei replied as he handed the shikomizue back to him.

"Well, time to look for that wallet."

"You still believe me about that?"

"Yea, you have have been playing about being defenseless, but I'm sure that you weren't lying about the wallet."

He stated as he started going through the pockets of the men that he had knocked out without waiting for the old man to respond causing him to smile. Kensei continued going through the pockets of the man until finding a wallet that seemed odd for someone their age to be carrying around. After opening the wallet, he found a picture that seemed more modern, but the people in the photo seemed to come from another era altogether.

"Here's your wallet."

Kensei passed the old man his wallet, which he took with a smile on his face.

"I thank you for returning this to me," the old man stated with a smile on his face. "I was happy when this photo of my wife and child was created. In my time, devices that could take photos such as this was nowhere even close to being invented yet."

Both Kensei and Yu-Long started to notice that the old man's speaking started to become a little odd as if he was just brought from somewhere in the far past into the future.

[Kensei, this old man is starting to talk a lot like old man Sun Wukong and Xuanzang.]

"Yea, I'm starting to notice too," Kensei whispered at a low enough tone for just the jade dragon to hear him. "So, I never got your name."

After being asked for his name by the young child, the old man started to scratch the back of his head with a soft smile appearing on his almost wrinkled face.

"Ah, I guess that it is time for introductions since you passed…Kensei Amagiri."

"Eh?"

Kensei was confused about the so-called "test" that the old man was referring to and he continued to talk without letting the information sink in.

"I tried something a little different in the past with others who wanted to meet me for the same thing. And I always have a little test to decide what they should receive. But, I have to admit that it was surprising when we first met, that little dragon wrapped around your neck is impressing as well."

"Huh," after it finally sunk in, Kensei asked the question that came to mind. "Are you the guy that I was supposed to meet here?"

"My name is Amakuni Yasutsuna, I'm sure that a youngster such as yourself from such a well-known clan should know that name."

Kensei was shocked about the name that was given to him to the point where he couldn't utter a single sound as a slight laugh escaped from his mouth.

"Ah, you couldn't be _that_ Amakuni Yasutsuna, could you? You're not like a descendant of something."

He questioned as he pointed his finger at him.

[Ah, Kensei who is this old guy?]

"There was another more famous swordsmith in legend before both Masamune and Muramasa, it was someone who created the first single-edged sword that would soon become known as a katana. There were some rumors, which states that he was granted immortality due to his continuous and diligent work."

"I am indeed the one and only Amakuni Yasutsuna."

"S-Seriously, I just keep meeting one legendary figure after another."

Kensei replied nervously.

* * *

Several minutes later, both Kensei and Yu-Long found themselves in a private residence hidden in the forest that was near the town upon being led by Amakuni. After venturing into the depths of the forest, the two noticed that a traditional Japanese residence large enough to hold a multitude of people. Around it was also many trees, which had been perfectly trimmed as if a large amount of time was spent tending to them. Further away from the house was another building at a distance from the main house.

Amakuni soon led them into a living room, then left to prepare drinks and snacks for both of them, the living room itself also maintained a traditional feel as there weren't any chairs just pillows.

"Ah, this place feels as if it was just pulled out from the past."

Kensei stated as he looked around the place.

"Hahahaha."

He was distracted after hearing that Yu-Long started to laugh at random as if the jade dragon had just recalled a hilarious event. And it didn't take much longer for Kensei to realize what that event was as it had just occurred a couple of minutes ago.

* * *

―A couple of minutes ago

 _"*Sniff* *Sniff* *Sniff* They wouldn't stop bullying me and Jii-chan~"_

 _Of course, neither of them could just leave the armed people in the alleyway, and so, Kensei had the people call the police over to take them into custody. After the police arrived to take them, the ten-year-old decided to act a lot like a scared ten-year-old, while momentarily taking off his cloak so he didn't look suspicious._

 _"I didn't know what else to do, then someone arrived and came to the rescue of me and my grandchild."_

 _"Did you get a good look at this good Samaritan?"_

 _"I'm sorry, but he just arrived out of nowhere, then left before we could get a good look."_

 _Just as one of the armed men were being taken into the police car, one of them glanced over and shouted._

 _"That's bullshit, that brat took out all of us…no kid can do what he can do….he must be some kind of demon."_

 _"Uhhh, he's scaring me."_

 _Kensei acted scared and hit behind his 'grandfather' while sticking his head out and sticking his tongue at all the young men being taken into custody. Causing a good number of them to overreact and bare their fangs at him, all while cursing at him. This scene also caused the people nearby to look at them as if they were crazy._

* * *

―Present time

"Hahahaha, you sold the act! …I almost lost it after you started to act all scared."

Kensei couldn't help but start laughing alongside the jade dragon who started to roll around on the floor. Amakuni started to walk into the living room staring at the dragon king as he continued to laugh.

"Ha, it's hard to believe that he's among the highest class that a dragon can reach, the Dragon Kings."

Amakuni stated with a slight laugh.

He soon took a seat in front of both Kensei and Yu-Long, the placed snacks and tea in front of them with looked at Kensei who still looked around the area.

"Is this to your liking?"

Amakuni stated as he looked at the curious expression on his face.

"Ah, there's nothing wrong with your home or anything else. This place just feels as if we just entered a new space altogether."

"You can thank a couple of Onmyouji specialists, as well as some youkai who was able to prepare this, but this doesn't hold a candle to space where the youkai of Kyoto live. It's sad to say, but I can't see myself in a modern environment nowadays…this place just feels like ancient Japan."

Amakuni stated as if recalling the old times in ancient Japan with his family and friends, even the trees all around his home looked a lot like it came from somewhere else.

"I guess that it'll be difficult for someone who's lived in an ancient era wouldn't be able to get used to the modern era. The amount of people who know about the supernatural is a little lesser compared to those who don't, while those who don't still maintain their belief in the various gods."

"Ah, but nowadays, I'm almost surprised about the number of devils and exorcists from the Three Faction among Christianity who is arriving in Japan as of late."

Amakuni spoke about a subject that he heard about a lot from the various adults of the Amagiri Clan, as well as a similar talk coming from the members of the Five Principal Clans about that specific subject. After taking a sip of the tea that was brought to him, while Yu-Long started to eat the snacks, and soon after Amakuni took a sip from his tea, he started to talk.

"Speaking about those devils. I believe that our other little informant has arrived."

There was a sudden bright light and presence that caught the attention of both Kensei and Yu-Long who stopped eating for a moment. A sudden shape took form in front of them, what appeared and landed on the table in front of them. What appeared in front of them was a three-legged crow that causes off a sudden presence that almost near mystifying.

"Ah, I see that Amaterasu-sama's messenger has arrived."

"Oh, a Yatagarasu?"

Kensei said eagerly as he glanced at the crow with his eyes sparkling as he stared out the three-legged crow.

He has heard stories about the yatagarsu being the messenger of Amaterasu, as well as being who intervenes in human affairs under the orders of Heaven. After noticing his presence, the yatagarsu turned his attention towards the young ten-year-old with an interesting look.

"I see, so you're…Kensei Amagiri."

The yatagarsu spoke in a tone that looked as if he were examining him causing the black-haired child to nod his head in agreement.

"Yes, I heard that there was some information about my situation."

"Ah, of course. As promised, Amaterasu had I and various other spirits around Japan locate all the magic circles used to enter this Hagun Island based on the various imbalance of spiritual power caused due to them. All of the locations had already been written down by Amakuni who was planning on handing it over to you as soon as the other business was done."

"Ah, thank you. Can you also thank Amaterasu-sama for doing this for me?"

"I will, but this is only a correct move," Yatagarsu started as it nodded its head. "This is an incident is a sure sign of disrespect towards Amaterasu-sama as well as the other gods of Shintoism. For others such as older devils to be involved in the trafficking of children from this faction as well as others could result in serious issues with the promise made between Amaterasu and the current Maou."

Yatagarasu brought up something that caught Kensei's attention, but the yatagarsu didn't continue after taking a look in the direction of Yu-Long who continued to eat.

"You don't have to worry about him," Kensei pointed out. "As long as there's food in front of him, I doubt that this dragon cares what happens around him. Besides, he's not going to tell anyone."

Upon hearing that from Kensei, the crow continued what his talk from beforehand.

"I'm sure that you've noticed that there have been many young high-class devils joined with their so-called peerages arriving in Japan into different towns. Well, Amaterasu-sama had agreed with the Maou after meeting the one in charge of foreign affairs. An agreement was soon made where the devils were allowed to manage and govern towns that were nowhere near spots that have high spiritual powers or those related to any of the Shinto gods such as temples or shrines, as well as not harming the residences residing in those times. As long as those conditions along with whatever conditions the Underworld gave them to attend a normal school, then those high-class devils would be allowed to remain here."

What Yatagarasu said to them made sense as the powers of the devil could result in negative effects on the spiritual powers found in Japan. Kensei even heard from a certain someone that devils required a special pass to enter the temples and shrines in Kyoto.

"But, why are you telling this to me?"

Kensei asked a question that came to mind as the crow finished his explanation.

"I don't know the specifics or her reasons, but I know that Amaterasu-sama has placed her faith in you. I already finished the job that I was told to do, I just wanted to see the human she decided to believe."

"So, what do you think, Yatagarasu?"

Amakuni questioned as he put his teacup on the ground as the crow faced Kensei.

"I can't think of him much now low alone criticize him since he's still a child who hasn't grown up yet, but I can tell that he has a lot of potential…aside from that I can't say anything else."

"Oh, I thought that you would've said that he was brave for facing these dangerous people alone."

"Well, most normal kids do dangerous things without even thinking about their outcome. That's the point of all of them being at that stage of immaturity."

Yatagarasu made his point causing Amakuni to agree with him, as a child grows up into adulthood, they'll realize the choices made in the past as being due to that immaturity.

"Hahahaha, I can't disagree with you, compared to adults who find their place in the world. Children always see the world as being full of almost infinite possibilities."

Amakuni added causing Kensei to think about it, but the Yatagarasu soon gave off a bright light and looked at the two people (Yu-Long wasn't paying much attention).

"I wish you luck on your journey."

Having said those last words, the Yatagarasu vanished in a flash of light without a single trace of his presence in the room.

"Well, I believe that it's time to get down to business."

Amakuni stated as he stood up from his seat, causing Kensei to glance in his direction as he turned his back.

"I believe that you needed a new sword."

"Yes!"

Kensei said ecstatically as he jumped to his feet in a single motion causing the old blacksmith to smile generously.

"Well, why don't we proceed to my workshop?"

"Yu-Long, I'll be right…and you're asleep."

Kensei realized that Yu-Long had fallen asleep after finishing the snacks that were prepared for them causing the black-haired child to shake his head.

Deciding that it would be better to just leave him there, Amakuni started to lead Kensei towards the building that was built nearby the main house. After the old swordsmith opened the door leading into the building, Kensei was able to tell that there was various equipment meant for a forge. Though there was one item on the wall that caught his attention, which was a long ornate hammer that gave off a holy presence.

"Welcome to my forge," Amakuni declared as he held his arms out in an energetic manner. "It's been a while since I've been in here, there hasn't been that many people coming around here a much, but that has given me enough time to tend to my plants and trees. But, Amaterasu-sama did ask that I repair a certain item and I've been preparing several needed materials to repair it."

Amakuni started to head into another room building into his forge, where Kensei began to hear various noises as if the swordsmith were going through several things. As Amakuni continued to look for whatever item he gone in there to find, Kensei started looking around the room and could feel that the room was giving off a different feel a lot similar to that of being inside of a shrine. Though there was a long wooden box that has some symbols engraved on the front of the box.

"Huh, this looks familiar…are these Onmyoji symbols?"

Kensei questioned as he started to get a closer look to the symbols on the wooden back, then he reached out his hand and his fingers touched the surface on the box. At the same moment, Amakuni walked back into the main room holding onto a sheathed katana.

"I think that this will do…nicely."

Amakuni started, but his eyes widened slightly after seeing the aura that leaked out of the box after just one of Kensei's finger touched the box as if something had resonated with him. After noticing the presence of Amakuni, the black-haired child turned around and removed his finger from the box and apologized.

"I'm sorry, I thought that I recognized the writing on this box," Kensei explained like a curious child being caught touching something in a museum. "Then it started to glow when I touched it."

"Ah, it's no problem at all," Amakuni replied causing Kensei to let out a breath of relief. "That is just a broken item that I was asked to repair. I'll be starting to repair it after a while, but I can't tell when it'll be finished. I also have to forge a katana for the will swordsman in front of me."

Amakuni said the last part with an energetic smile as if looking forward to all the work that he'll need to complete in the future. Though Kensei noticed the katana in his hand and directed his finger at it.

"What's that katana for?"

"I'm sorry, but that katana that I plan on forging for you won't be completed at the appointed time combined with all the materials and metal that I'll to prepare for it, I doubt that it'll take a month. So, I apologize for any issue that I've caused due to my issues."

"Personal Issues?"

"I'm a perfectionist by nature," Amakuni declared with a smile as he held the katana towards Kensei. "This child has no name, but it won't disappoint you. For someone like me, a swordsmith who was able to become immortal by just doing what he loved, I started to view the swords that I created as being my children. And to make those children strong, I began to explore the different properties of ores and metals. In all the research into forging swords, I created several powerful children and left them in the care of various trustworthy people."

Amakuni explained as he glanced in the direction of Kensei.

"Among those people, I once met a serious teenage who sought to be a strong warrior, but he could be serious to a fault and sometimes desired strength too much. And another was a female from a certain clan who sought to a higher level of swordplay, she also had a violent streak, but her desires were almost childish."

He continued talking about these two people on in his discussion giving Kensei an idea on who they were as it was similar to how others described them. Though Kensei didn't say anything about it and just held the sheathed katana in his hands, then placed it on his left side.

"I'll hand over the information that I received from Yatagarasu," Amakuni stated after realizing that their business was finished at least for the moment. "But, before you go is there any personal additions that you desire for your katana? I learned how to create various ones…how about a holy sword?"

"Nah, I would prefer a normal katana that goes alongside my natural and inherent abilities."

"Oh, why is that?"

Amakuni became interested in the answer that Kensei had given him.

"I want to master a normal sword before wielding anything like a holy sword," Kensei gave out a response, which caused a fighting spirit to practically burn in his eyes. "Of course, if the situation called for it, then I'll wield one."

"Hahahaha! I've only ever heard something like that from two people in the past!"

Amakuni laughed energetically after hearing his response.

"Hah, my mom laugh when I said that three years ago."

Kensei almost pouted after hearing Amakuni laugh at him, then he started to turn in the direction leading towards the exit. After noticing that expression that was on his face, Amakuni started to laugh silently to himself.

 _"What an unbelievably stubborn, but flexible kid! I don't even need the time to think about what kind of katana for craft for him, I've already seen how he fought when using my shikomizue. Also, for that item to react to him…i guess that is another reason that Amaterasu-sama has so much faith in him."_

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the eleventh chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri,** **where Kensei return** **ed to Japan and he met an old man who lost his wallet, then assisted in finding it. There he easily dealt with a small group of normal humans and discovered the old man was revealed to be Amakuni Yasutsuna,** **a historical figure rumored to have forged the first single-edged blade (tachi) was stated to have become immortal. Kensei will be receiving his sword in the future. Well, that's all for this chapter and in the next chapter will the best start the big fight for this arc.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Yasaka, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah,** **Minako** **, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.**


	12. Rebellion on Hagun Island Part 1

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Rider126: I didn't base it off Miyamoto Musashi from Fate, both of them will be revealed soon.**

 **look2019: Thanks.**

 **Clarent excalibur: That sounds like a hilarious idea, besides who's going to talk back to the Chief God of the Shinto. Of course, her reveal into her actual identity would be a funny reaction, also how do you think that Issei would react if he finds out that a goddess is in his harem.**

 **Reviewer Requiem: I have something similar in mind for their first encounter and interaction, as well as a special weapon for her to wield. She will be quite a fighter who will without give someone a lot like Kensei a run for his money.**

* * *

 **Rebellion on Hagun Island Part 1**

During the final moments of his training with Sun Wukong, Kensei stood in front of Xuanzang Sanzang's home in his normal clothing, which consists of a black gakuran school uniform with his dress shirt unbuttoned and a blue-colored undershirt with the katana he received on his hip. Near him were Sun Wukong, Xuanzang, and Yu-Long who watched as he took on a stance found in Chinese martial art. In front of Kensei, there was another clone that the Monkey King created, which was substantially weaker compared to the original and was placed on the same level as Kensei. This time it wasn't about beating the clone, it was just pure practice.

After a second, the clone rushed at Kensei aiming a punch straight at his face but using a unique maneuver, the black-haired child avoided the strike appearing behind the clone. Seeing that caused the clone to make another attempt at striking the child, but each of the strikes was avoided as he maneuvered around each of the attacks without going on the offensive. This was another martial art Kensei learned the basics of known as Hakkesho, an internal one that focuses on free-flowing stances designed to maneuver around attacks.

Having avoided the last attack utilizing the same maneuver, the clone expected it and aimed his leg at the same time he moved causing him to land on his back. Taking the chance, the clone again attacked him using a sharp punch aimed at his abdomen.

"Hah."

Before the strike made contact with him, Kensei covered himself in a light aura wrapped around himself, which is the touki he used before. As soon as the strike made contact, the touki defended him against the strike lessening the damage that he could have taken. The moment that the clone stepped away from Kensei to gain distance, it held up its arm and blocked a sudden kick that he had aimed at it. The kick caused the clone to stagger with the black-haired child jumped to his feet, then spun himself around and struck the clone at the back of the head.

This was a third martial art named Hikaken, which is practiced alongside Hakkyokuken, which focuses on long-range explosive power generated from the acceleration force of the arms focusing on palm strikes. Before both it and Kensei could get into another close-range encounter, Sun Wukong clapped his hand signaling for the end of the practice match. As ordered, the clone and Kensei stopped, then bowed their heads to one another as a sign of respect as the clone vanished.

"That was an impressive sparring match, you've gotten a hang of the basic principles of the three martial arts that I taught you. For you to bring out their true worth, you will need to master them and build up your physical prowess as you grow up in the future. Though that doesn't change the fact that you are stronger compared to when you first arrived, if I'm correct, then you should be able to handle the normal gehenna guards."

"Yea, but I'm still nowhere near that bastard Hayashi."

Kensei pointed out as he scratched the back of his head letting out a slight sigh recalling the first time he tried to fight against Hayashi.

"You're right about that, based on what you said, that man seems to be a genuine veteran. And if I were to make a guess, then he could fight against high-class devils using just his trained skill even in his old age, but it's all about how you go about it. In a battle, anything can happen that could steer the fight into your favor."

Sun Wukong added.

"His talent almost alarming, for a normal person learning the just basics of three martial arts would take longer."

Yu-Long pointed out as he floated next to Kensei who glanced in the direction of the dragon.

"What you're saying I don't try my best?"

Kensei questioned as he placed both his hands behind his head.

"I'm not saying that it's just alarming. Especially, when I heard that you learned all your clan's technique in under three years."

"Look, I didn't learn everything that the Amagiri Clan had created."

"Huh?"

"I learned the basics and some secret techniques," Kensei replied. "The Amagiri Clan has created several techniques and spells is impossible even for me in just a couple of years. Some of the spells and techniques that the Amagiri Clan I did learn are complicated and it took me a while to memorize all of them."

Kensei explained as he turned in the direction of his teacher who was smoking his pipe and blew white smoke in the air before pointing out the obvious to him.

"Well, no matter what. Kensei you're training period with me is done and I think that you know what that means."

"Yep, time for me to go and kick some ass."

Kensei replied energetically as he punched the palm of his head with a wide smirk.

"Ha, I expected that answer from you," Xuanzang started letting out a slight laugh. "Though don't hesitate to come and visit sometime in the future…also, bring along your friends, I'd love to meet them."

"You can bet on that. I'd love to meet all of you again."

Hearing that happy and energetic response caused the three legends from the Journey of the West to smile endearingly.

"Well, I guess that we shouldn't waste time."

After hearing Sun Wukong's response caused Yu-Long to grow into his full-sized dragon form with both him and Kensei jumping on top of him. The jade dragon soon flew off into the direction of Japan once again at a far more quicker pace than he had beforehand with Xuanzang looking off into the distance that they departed.

"Good luck, Kensei. If you end up succeeding in saving everyone from that place, there may end up being great troubles for you all in the future."

After saying those final words, Xuanzang continued to watch as the figure of the eastern dragon continued to turn smaller and smaller by the second.

* * *

Their trip arriving back to Japan, as well as one of the locations where the magic-circle leading into Hagun Island took at least a couple of minutes. The three of them found themselves looking at the location that the Yatagarasu had located and given to Amakuni informed him about. Yu-Long had stopped several feet into the air with a spell placed on him to appear invisible to others.

"Hmm, based on what Yatagarasu, this the most used magic circle among the others placed around Japan. If his guess is correct, then someone should be arriving in at least five minutes."

"Are you prepared for this?"

"I've been preparing for this for the last month."

Kensei answered the question that Sun Wukong had asked without any nervousness in his voice.

"I know that, but don't forget that unlike you, those kids still have those bracelets on them and this Tora person can still control all of them."

"It'll be fine if I know Zane and everyone like I know that I do, then they should've probably already come up with some kind of plan. And since I don't have that bracelet on, then Taro and those bastards shouldn't be able to see me making a comeback."

"It seems that everyone hangs on whatever that plan seems to be."

Yu-Long this time pointed out that face with Sun Wukong agreeing what his opinion.

"Yep."

"You don't seem to be nervous at all, everything…all of your futures is riding on this plan succeeding."

"Yea, but for some reason, I can't feel nervous at all."

"Why's that?"

Sun Wukong inquired to his former student who remained standing on the head of Yu-Long staring at the magic-circle that rested in front of his eyes.

"My mom always told me that there are situations where you can either be afraid or nervous and at most times, it is when your life is in danger. But, even at those times, I never feel nervous at all for some reason…or that could just be due to there not being a situation that has ever scared me. But, the only time that I have felt the slightest bit scared, is when someone I care about is about to die."

Both Sun Wukong and Yu-Long had noted that answer wasn't the words that would come out of a normal child's mouth. Soon enough, a magic-circle meant to teleportation was activated revealing a group of humans based on their auras. After noticing their presence, Kensei soon reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a talisman with writing on it, but before jumping he turned to face them with a confident smirk.

"I'm not afraid since there are two choices. Either success or Death," Kensei said as he held the talisman in his hands. "And since I don't plan on dying, then I might as well succeed."

That was the kind of logic that both Sun Wukong and Yu-Long would expect from a child.

"Well, I guess this is it for a while."

"Yea, thanks again for the training Sun-sensei," Kensei thanked before noticing that Yu-Long made what seemed to be almost like a childish look. "What are you going to miss me, Yu-Long?"

"O-Of course not, I could find better companions than a ten-year-old."

Even the comment that he made seemed almost childish, but Kensei just smirked and jumped off the dragon and he headed down several feet into the air.

After chanting a small spell, Kensei started to be covered in a mist-like cloak until becoming invisible from sight. It was a spell that could make him invisible, but it could still be possible to sense him, however, using senjutsu, it is possible for him to also hide his presence.

Upon speaking a small chant, a mist began to cover him until his figure vanished from sight. It was a spell that could make him invisible, but it could still be possible to sense him; however, through using senjutsu, Kensei can mask his presence from others. As soon as he landed on the ground and followed the three males to the magic-circle without his presence being known and soon vanished along with them to Hagun Island.

Despite them seeing him off as planned, Sun Wukong and Yu-Long remained in the air with a concerned look on the jade dragon's face.

"Well, old man since we don't have much going on. I wouldn't mind staying here for a moment."

Sun Wukong knew that the jade dragon was worried about Kensei due to the dangers that were in front of him; in fact, the monkey king himself felt confident in him, but he was also worried for him.

"I know, why don't we wait here and see what happens?"

Sun Wukong responded.

* * *

The three men arrived on Hagun Island without knowing that they were being followed by an invisible Kensei who looked around the area.

 _"Well, I'm back in this hellhole."_

Kensei thought as he looked around the area noticing the same old rich and stuck-up people was the same as him when he left. He had wanted to look for a chance to slip away from the men following behind him for him to head back to his home with Claire and Alice. But, there was something that caught his attention.

"Hey, did you hear about that half-breed girl?"

"You mean that little brat who entered Gehenna a month ago?"

Kensei continued to follow them after hearing "half-breed girl", he knew there were other half-breeds here on the island, but he still followed them due to the gray-haired girl that entered his head. The time frame also matched his suspicion about it being her.

 _"They aren't talking about Claire, are they?"_

He questioned to himself, but to find a quicker answer, Kensei decided to run up ahead in the direction of the arena. Noticing that there were several buildings nearby, he started to scale them until reaching the top of the arena, which had an opened top. Kensei looked down at the middle of the arena and noticed that a person was standing in the middle of the arena holding what seemed to be a short sword in their hand. To get a better look at the person, he started to enhance his vision using his ki and got a clearer view of the person.

"Is that…?"

Kensei questioned as his mouth started to became gaped opened a bit.

The person was he was looking at was without a doubt Claire and noticed that she had cut her hair shorter who also seemed to have realized her sacred gear.

"She must have entered the Gehenna Tournament after thinking that I had died," Kensei realized as he sat down on on the outer wall of the arena. He also noticed that her presence and demeanor was a lot different compared to before. "Claire changed this much in just a month."

Kensei sat there and noticed that Claire was doing alright in her match wielding that short sword against the large monster chasing after her, then when it was at a distance from her, she released different demonic attacks at it. It was a known fact that Kensei didn't want her to compete in the tournament, but become proud at how much she had grown in a month. There was nothing he wanted more than to continue to watch the match, but he didn't go and met up with the others.

Kensei continued to head in the direction of the Residential Area A, which was the home that he shared with both Claire and Alice through jumping from building to building. Soon enough, he arrived in front of the gates leading into the series of small houses that could barely full three people and noticed that there were still several children his age or younger walking around. He continued to walk avoiding the people who would've run into him and he made it in front of their home.

His heart raced a bit as he reached his hand out to turn the nob, but before doing so, he reached his hand in his pocket and pulled out the key that he still carried around. Once he unlocked the door and entered the house with a half-smile on his face as the spell that made him invisible wore off. Kensei looked around the place and felt that the atmosphere almost felt homely. Of course, this could barely count as a home, but it was made into one where the three of them could live in.

Kensei could sense that there wasn't anyone in the house, so that meant that Alice would either be with Zane or Abigail. He laid down on the couch with his hands rested behind the back of his head.

"This couch is still as rough as always, but I've kinda missed it."

* * *

Meanwhile, outside leading towards his house, the usual group that consists of Alice herself, Zane, Hisui, and Rui who walked behind the three of them.

"So, what's the plan for today?"

Rui questioned.

"Well, if things go as planned, then we should be able to commence the plan in a week or so."

Zane replied.

"But, aren't there a lot of holes in this plan. I mean, it is based on one us going along with Claire to locate a single room where the single to these collars are located," Hisui pointed out. "Besides, if one of us steps into that so-called Paradise, then Taro will be able to tell that we're here."

Zane silently agreed with what Hisui had said, even if two of them were to enter the building where their bracelets are all being controlled. There was a chance that the operators would be able to tell their exact location.

 _"That means we'll need a distraction to make things a success."_

"Huh? …That's weird."

The three of them heard those words leave Alice's mouth and turned in her direction, as she opened the door to hers and Claire's home without first using the key in her hands. It wasn't weird for those who were desperate to survive to deal from others and it wasn't rare for them to attempt to break into the homes of others, but the door didn't seem to be broken. Everyone one of them became hesitant about entering the house in fear of what they could find inside.

To protect the three of them, Zane had gone in first with a magic-circle starting to appear in his hands as a precaution.

"Alright, you know it's a crime to break into someone's house."

"That's true, but you can't break in if you have a key."

Hearing that familiar voice caused the four of them to rush into the house closing the door behind them just as a precaution and went towards the source. All of their mouths hung in shock as they noticed that the person whose laying down on the couch was, in fact, Kensei.

"Also, no matter how much time has passed, I still live here."

Kensei said as he stood back up on the couch looking towards all of them was en endearing smile.

[KENSEIIIIIIIII!]

All four of them shouted ecstatically, but the first ones to jump at him were both Alice (albeit as best as she could) and Hisui with even slight tears on the corners of their eyes. Both of them wrapped their arms around him with Hisui rubbing her cheek affectionately against his as she let out a cheerful laugh.

"You're alive, you're alive!"

Alice shouted in a cheerful tone, which was almost surprising since she was always almost expressionless most of the time with tears trailing down her face. In response to that, Kensei wrapped his arms back around them with a smile on his face after being able to see them all again.

"Ah, Ken Ken has returned for me!"

Just like always, Hisui was affectionately saying things like that as her tail continued to move around in a manner of excitement. Even Rui was laughing in a manner fashion while wiping away the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes realizing that she hadn't lost one of her closest friends. Hisui soon stepped away from Kensei and let an almost knowing expression on her face, but before she could say anything, he spoke first.

"I'm glad that I can see you guys again after all this time," Kensei stated displaying how much he missed all of them. "It feels almost like a lifetime since then the last time we were all together."

"My my, I didn't expect Ken Ken to learn senjutsu. Ah, you must've wanted to feel closer to me~"

Hisui declared in a tone that sounded as if she were falling in love all over again, but hearing that statement from her caused all of them to stare at her in shock.

"What do you mean he learned senjutsu?"

Rui questioned her roommate/friend.

"Before Ken Ken's ki flowed like a normal person, but when someone learns senjutsu, it is turned into a constant current," Hisui explained. "Besides, I would've immediately sensed if it was Ken Ken inside of the house."

"Well, I wanted to surprise you all. So, I hide my ki as much as I could."

Kensei replied as he scratched the back of his head.

"I think that we all would've been surprised to see you again," Zane stated with a smile after seeing that his best friend was alive and well. "Well, you know what they say, the heroes always make a dramatic comeback."

"I'll explain everyone when Claire gets back."

"Of course, I plan on hearing everything in detail."

Both of them gave one another a wide smirk as the two them performed their usual fist bump.

"Ah, Kensei about Claire."

Despite being happy that Kensei had returned to them, the mention of Claire caused a thought to enter her head. Alice was about to inform him about something she felt that he needed to know, but Kensei shook his head much to her surprise.

"It's fine, I saw her fighting in the tournament already."

"I'm sorry, I tried to convince her not to, but…."

Alice stared again in a saddened tone, but Kensei stopped her after patting the top of her head.

"It's fine, most of the time in the midst of a lost, there are several things that a person can do," Kensei stated with a smirk that seemed to be mocking himself. "I think we all kinda underestimated Claire a bit, but her sacred gear is a little more complicated than I thought."

"Ah, we were all surprised too."

Hisui noted as she glanced in the direction of Kensei smiling happily.

"A half-devil having a sacred gear that has an angel sealed within it. That kinda explained why she was reacting in such a manner before you left, the light from it started to react to the demonic power within in a more negative way causing her sudden illness."

Zane added in an interesting manner, which caused the others to silently agree with him.

"Ah, well I think that Claire is on her way," Hisui pointed out after noticing her presence using senjutsu. "Her fight finished a little bit after we decided to leave and come here."

"Ah, I see."

"Oh~ Are you getting nervous?"

"A little bit."

Kensei answered honestly after hearing that question from Hisui who silently agreed with him considering all that has happened in the past month. He had heard all about what happened the last time that Claire had lost all the people closest to her before. After losing them, then coming here, she must've not been able to trust anybody up until the moment that all of them met.

"My, I didn't think that Ken Ken of all people would get nervous like this."

"Aren't you the person who can take on monsters daily?"

Kensei heard both Hisui and Rui teasing him about being nervous about seeing Claire again.

"Fighting against monsters is easier, so don't tease me about this."

Both Alice and Zane had silently laughed about the reaction that came from Kensei who stared at them with a look, a person would expect from a ten-year-old. Before either of them say another word….

Open.

All of them remained silent, as the door opened revealing the silhouette of Claire appeared in front of the door in a state of near exhaustion with her clothes also torn in different places.

"I'm sorry for being late," Claire started as her eyes closed. "But, I'll need to change clothes before…."

Claire stopped as she opened her eyes widened after seeing Kensei standing in front of her, causing the gray-haired girl to stop in her tracks. Her heart almost felt as if it were about to stop after seeing him before her with several different feelings being riled up within her.

She couldn't forget his face.

She couldn't forget his presence.

Was he standing in front of her?

No that's impossible.

"…is this some kind of trick?"

Claire spoke in a tone of disbelief as she stared at him.

No one could blame that question leaving her mouth, more so than any of them, her entire life has been nothing more than an entire roller coaster of loss and mourning. So, it wouldn't be surprising for Claire to still be in a state of disbelief. And so, no one in the room said a single room, as there was only one person who was able to prove that he was, in fact, the real deal.

Kensei began to approach the gray-haired girl who started to step back away from him with a hesitant and faltering look on her face.

"…stay back."

She stated in a weak tone with some demonic power starting to gather in her hands in a threatening manner, but he continued walking toward her. This scene reminded Claire about the first time she met Kensei, he was even walking toward her at the same pace. All of this caused a feeling of hope to bubble within all the negativity, which remained within her for the past month. Before she was able to react or say anything, Kensei wrapped both of his arms around her in a comforting manner.

"I'm sorry, I worried you even more than I had done before. But, I can't guarantee that I won't continue worrying you in the future," he said in a comforting manner that caused her iced-over heart to melt. "But, I can make one promise. No matter the opponent. No matter the condition. No matter what the fight entails. Even if it means that I have to fight against a god…I'll always be on your side."

Those were the same words that she had heard from him in the past and no one could have mimicked his tone, which granted her hope.

"A-A-Are you back?"

"Yea and I'll never abandon you or anyone else again."

Those were the last words that she needed as her face started to unfurl into a saddened one that seemed on the brink of utter tears. Until finally―

"N-NNNNNNNNNNNIIIIIIIIIII-SAAAAN!"

Like a dam that was beginning to break, her tears overflowed as she hugged Kensei back with strength, which he wouldn't have expected from the young girl. Claire continued to cry as she pushed her head into his shirt staining it with her tears as Kensei continued to pet her head in a comforting manner. Everyone let out a slight of relief as the young girl was finally letting out all the emotions that she had bottled up.

"There there."

"Y-You're back, you came back…."

He couldn't say anything else and just allowed Claire to cry her eyes out.

* * *

"Ah, to be honest, I'm surprised."

Those were the first words that came out of Maria's mouth.

Once Maria, Layla, and Iris arrived, they were surprised to see that he was still alive, but they were most shocked to hear him explain what happened from him meeting Sun Wukong until this point. Of course, all the people who had become known as his friends/comrades were all surprised to the point of laughter. Meanwhile, Claire remains sitting next to him with her arms wrapped around his.

"To think that you could survive being beaten and shot with magic, transported to a location filled with dangerous monsters defenseless, and in the end, meet three of the most famous people mentioned in one of the well-known legends in the world even where Sis and I come from."

Layla had added after hearing most of it from them soon after their arrival.

"I've always been told that I'm too stubborn."

Kensei joked as he could feel that Claire had been hugging onto his arms as he rested his hand on top of Claire's.

"It's so unbelievable that it's almost hilarious."

Rui added right after her.

"But, that just means that Ken Ken is destined to become a hero."

Hisui pointed out lovingly, even reaching her arms out in his direction to hug him, but Claire intervened pulling him away from her. After everything had been settled after his return, the former relationship of Hisui and Claire had also returned to normal.

"Aw~ Come on, Claire I'm happy about him being back too. So, can't you just let it slide this once?"

"…."

Claire pouted and continued to hug onto his arms, while Kensei let out a slight laugh.

Aside from it being their usual routine with Claire keeping Kensei away from Hisui while hogging him for herself, there was another reason, why she had arms around him. It was as if, she desired his protection from someone and Kensei knew what the reason was, but wanted to remain casual like they were all before a little while longer. Alice who sat nearby them with a faint smile on her face as she noticed their interaction has returned to normal.

 _"Ah, I've missed this."_

Alice though letting out a relieved sigh after noticing that their usual retinue had returned to normal.

Although it was nice for them all to return to their usual lives together, there was a more pressing matter that all of them needed to deal with.

"So, what do we plan on doing," Maria had questioned as she glanced at all the people who had gathered inside of the room. "Aside from the arrival of Kensei, we have far more people who could assist in this plan."

"Ah, you're right. If things had gone accordingly then we can enact the plan in less than a week, but…."

Zane began but stopped after recalling what Kensei had brought up what the old devils had said before being sent off of Hagun Island and it was the main reason for him being taken out.

"…for whatever reason those old devils are targeting Claire and could plan on taking her at any moment today."

Rui had said what everyone else was thinking in their heads but didn't say anything out loud.

"Things started to get more complicated than we expected, if Kensei hadn't returned, then we wouldn't have even known that they would be taking Claire. And we are even still in the middle of getting everything prepared to sneak into that building where the signal is being transmitted and now things are in utter disarray."

Everyone listened as Zane continued to complain about their current situation and every one of them shared a similar opinion as him.

"But, is everything that bad?"

"Kinda, I mean aside from the fact that they're planning on taking Claire. And Claire's was the most pivotal to the plan in getting rid of the signal."

Zane answered Rui who stood nearby them with his arms crossed.

No one in the room said a single word as thoughts began to run wild in their collective minds in an attempt to find a solution to this problem.

"Did you say that you needed a distraction?"

Kensei questioned causing everyone to direct their eyes towards him.

"Yea, why?"

"Don't forget, I'm the only one who's not being tracked anymore and those bastards think that I'm dead."

Kensei answered Zane, the latter who could already guess what he was thinking and Claire realized what he was thinking, which caused her to tighten her grip on his arm.

"…you're planning on doing something reckless again aren't you?"

Claire questioned causing Kensei to nod his head in agreement.

"I was already planning on doing this before arriving here," he declared as he looked towards all the people in the room. "I plan to fight that bastard Hayashi again, as well as mowing down those Gehenna Guard bastards."

It wasn't an answer that all of them were expecting, but neither of them was that surprised aside from one of the newer allies that they had made.

"Are you insane," Layla questioned him. "I know that you aren't a slouch in a battle and that you could even give our sis a hard time, but are you thinking about going against what's essentially an entire army alone?"

Since Kensei had vanished, there was little to no interaction between them, so it wouldn't be surprising if she had that opinion about him.

"That's the long and short of it."

Kensei gave out a bland response as if he didn't get the dangers of the situation at hand, but before Layla could say another word about it.

"I share the same opinion," Zane stated as he crossed his arms much to everyone's surprise. "It's insane to fight against essentially an entire army armed with magic and artillery against a single kid armed with a sword without a single plan in mind instead of charging in head-on. That could be classified as a suicide mission."

"Of course, it's insane and…."

"That's what I would say if it were someone else."

That response alone had caused Layla's expression to fall into complete shock as the color also seemed to drain from her face. Alice and the others aside from Maria and Iris, on the other hand, started to laugh a bit as soon as those words left out of his mouth. Maria just continued to look at what could happen next.

"A-Are you serious?"

"I've known Kensei for a short while, but I've grown to view him as being one of my closest friends. He's assisted me in coming up with a plan in escaping and didn't think that I was being optimistic like everyone else who heard that I was planning an escape attempt. And if I were to laugh at him planning on fighting despite the odds against him, then how could I call him my friend?"

Zane had replied as he looked at them with a smile on his face.

"I know that this plan sounds insane, but…."

"…we…don't have a choice…."

Kensei and the others noticed a low toned voice in the room, while both Maria and Layla looked surprised after "that" person decided to speak up. As soon as their eyes locked onto the source, Iris, she became surprised and jumped behind Maria after letting out a shrill screech.

"…Iris?"

Layla questioned surprised after hearing the normally quiet girl speak up.

"Go on. Speak your opinion."

Maria urged feeling interested that the young girl had decided to speak up in front of people aside from her and Layla.

"…hmmm. I mean…none of us has that many choices in the manner…." Iris stated as she stuck her head out from behind Maria. "I…if Claire is taken, then…the plan will be ruined…since her inherent power as a devil is needed…to get rid of the signal. A-And…Sis did say that it isn't nice to mock a person's resolve…Sister Layla…."

This was the first time that either of them ever heard Iris speak, even for Layla, it took a long time for Iris to warm up to her. And so, it was surprising for the white-haired girl to open up to them despite never doing so in the past month and hiding from their gazes. Despite being surprised about her speak up suddenly, she warmed couldn't help but happy about that.

 _"Iris must have started to view them all as her friends. Before she was too afraid to show herself in front of them,"_ Maria thought as she smiled. _"I made the right choice in becoming their allies."_

"…."

Layla couldn't say anything else about the idea of both Kensei and Zane, but she couldn't help but still feel some anxiety about it. Looking all that has occurred in a short period, Maria stood up and started to walk in the direction of both young boys with both her arms crossed.

"Hmm, I would be lying if I didn't think that this idea sounds insane and unorthodox. I don't need to be a strategist to know that there are a lot of things that could go wrong if just one person…a kid, in fact, goes against an armed force alone. And though, I don't look down on someone's determination, I can still speak out when I believe that it is a suicidal attempt," Maria spoke up in a serious tone before smiling a bit. "But, this is the first time that I've felt this much hope since coming here that felt this genuine. And since someone close to death was able to survive and encounter two legends, I'll offer up as much assistance as possible."

Both Kensei and Zane would feel the weight behind her words as if they came from a natural-born leader or adult, not from a child their age. Seeing Maria standing in front of him like this caused something to pop out in his head after hearing about what she has done for him in his absence.

"Maria," he got her attention, then surprised her by bowing his head. "I wanted to thank you for looking out for Clare and training her. I was a bit surprised to see how much she was able to handle herself in a month. She seemed like a different after I saw her fighting against that monster."

"I don't consider myself a competent teacher, I just said what my…teacher had done for me. All of it was due to her effort in training, not me. Besides, if I hadn't assisted the person close to the one I owed a debt, then I'll end up feeling ashamed for the rest of my life."

Maria replied with a wave of her hand.

"Also…i want to add one more thing."

Maria added as she pointed her first towards Kensei mirroring what he and Zane did almost all the time.

"If you're planning on acting as the main distraction for this little plan to succeed," she started before glancing in the direction of Claire. "Don't die and leave her alone again. And this doesn't just come from a comrade, but an older sister figure for the girls standing behind me. For those who lose someone or something precious to them or never had a person to depend on

"If you're planning on acting as the distraction until this little plan succeeds," she started before glancing in the direction of Claire. "Then don't die and leave her alone again. And this doesn't come from just a comrade, but an older sister figure for the girls standing behind me. For those who lose someone important to them or never had a single person to rely on…we act as that person. So for people like me and you, dying on them isn't an option."

Kensei understood the words that had come out of her mouth and realize the trauma that Claire experienced, as a result of his supposed death. If it weren't for all the people in the room being with her at the time, then it could have been possible that she couldn't endure being here alone. Hearing both her words and emotion being them caused a smile to appear on his face.

"I got it, but I never planned on dying anyway."

Kensei replied as he balled up his fist and made contact with her.

"I never thought that I'd be doing this with anyone aside from Kensei," Zane chuckled. "But, no matter what I'll still be on your side as a friend and comrade."

Zane balled up his first and made contact with both Kensei's and Maria's linked fists.

Seeing this caused Hisui to become energized as she stood in front of the three with one of her hands held up cheerfully and a wide grin on her face.

"I believe in Ken Ken more than anyone," Hisui declared causing a sour expression to form on Claire's face. "And I know that this plan is going to succeed in the end no matter what. …but, I also believe if all of our work together as a team, then it'll make things a lot easier for us to succeed in this."

Hisui said that last part with a sincere smirk on her face.

"Of course, I'll support Kensei anyway I can."

"…I guess that I'm used to Nii-san insane things that leaves me worried about him. But, I'll support him."

"Me too."

Both Alice, Claire, and Rui also placed in their hands on top of the four of theirs.

"If Sis believes in you, then I guess I will too."

"…hmm."

Both Layla and Iris also added in their hands in the pile.

All of them knew prior that there wouldn't be a miracle or divine intervention that would end up saving all of them in the end, which was why all of them needed to work together to gain their long-awaited freedom. All of them came from different factions, locations, and lineages, but their desire to regain their lives had brought them all together.

"Well, now that we have a plan in mind. I think that it's time that all of you met up with my "source"."

Upon hearing Zane's declaration, all of them directed their attention towards him. Despite all of them meeting at different times, all of them were curious about the true identity of this "source" that Zane had mentioned all of the time. Even Kensei who was considered his closest friend was never informed about his "source".

* * *

Meanwhile, inside of the office belonging to Taro, he remained sitting behind his desk with both his legs place on his wooden desk and both his hands behind his head.

"Ah, to think that I'll be making such a grand deal just by trading that half-breed girl. I don't know what her mother had done, but it must have been severe."

Taro said to himself as he glanced at the ceiling of his office.

No matter how many times he looked at it, Taro could never get enough at looking at his extravagant office with a look of great glee. Not in his old life as an unaware human, could he have ever afforded anything like this. There wasn't even a single moment where he thought about his family who he had put in serious bankruptcy, but Taro has heard that a number of them had committed suicide.

"Eh, who cares about all that."

Taro said in a callous manner showing no shred of empathy for what he had done to his family.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

A sound came from the device on his desk causing him to glance towards it and pressed a button.

"What is it?"

"Taro-dono your guests would like you to join them in the VIP room."

A female assistant replied on the other end of the line.

"Ah, that sounds like a good idea. I've been stuck in this office all day without anything to do," Taro replied as he stretched his arms. "Inform them that I'll be there in a moment."

"Yes, Taro-dono."

Taro pressed the button again, then he stood up from his seat with both his arms stretched out and a loud yawn escaping from his mouth.

"Well, time to go and join my partners."

Taro started to exit his office room in the direction of the VIP room where the old devils were waiting for him.

* * *

Inside of the arena where the Gehenna Tournament was being held, while people were sitting in the stands watching the fights. There were special booths where Taro's "special guests" such as benefactors to the success of Hagun Island were allowed to watch the matches in true comfort. In one of these booths, there were a group of old devils sitting there in the comfortable chairs and being served by maidservants.

"Ah, I'm glad that things are being a success."

"What a wonderful business. We get to trade some brats with talent and groom them into strong servants for the rating game participants and there aren't any questions as to where they came from. I was almost worried when that brat Ajuka suggested the evil pieces, but who would've thought that we could've stirred up such a profit by using reincarnated devils in the rating games?"

Several of the old devils shared the same opinion as reincarnated devils or low-ranked devils were just used for their potential by most and never receive the proper education unless they recognized for that talent. That was a tradition to most in the Underworld.

"But, who would've thought that woman would have had a daughter with that exorcist."

Another one of them brought up as if annoyed by that fact.

"We don't yet know whether or not she knows about what her mother had become involved in, but we can't take a single chance if she ends up coming into contact with Diehauser of all people."

That was what the old devils were most worried about as Diehauser wasn't someone who could be dealt with.

"There's nothing to worry about because once she leaves this island. The little winch will be dealt with and that will be the end of it."

Each of them had come to a merciless agreement as they planned on taking Claire's life as soon as she left from Hagun Island. Before either of the old devils could say another word, the door opened revealing Taro walk inside of the VIP room where the old devils waited for him.

"Have I kept you awaiting my friends?"

"Of course not, Taro-dono."

"So who's about to fight right now?"

The old devils greeted him, while another one questioned the upcoming match for the Gehenna Tournament.

"Ah, this is a true treat. There was another kid among residential area b with a sacred gear that has just activated a couple of days prior."

Taro announced as he took a seat on the chair next to them after one of the maidservants poured him a glass of red wine from his imported collection. He soon held the wineglass in his hand with a smug look on his face as he looked down at the arena as the match was about to start. In the crowds, people were preparing to listen to the arbiter of the match.

[Welcome back out loyal patrons! I, Alexei Sternberg, everyone's favorite arbiter will now announce the arrival of a new addition into the Gehenna Tournament!]

His announcement caused thundering cheers to echo across the arena as the gates where the fighters were all supposed to arrive through. Though the crowd started to become silent as no one began to come out through the gates, which confused them.

"What's going on?"

"Where's the fighter?"

"What happened?"

Several questions started to arise in the stands soon causing a commotion among them, as within the VIP room, where Taro was, old devils were wondering the same thing.

"Did something happen, Taro-dono?"

"I don't know."

Taro reached into his pocket and pulled out a communication device, then spoke to the gehenna guards with the next combatant.

"Hey, what's going on in there?"

Taro's tone was almost aggravated for the first time as he spoke with a calm almost cocky tone most of the time.

[…we…uh…have a…situation….]

Taro and the old devils could hear that there seemed to a fight occurring in the radio.

"Is our recent addition fighting back?"

[…no, he left a while ago…it's…that…aaahhhh!]

At the same time as that call, the radio was cut and a large explosion that occurred in the tunnel causing a thick cloud of smoke catching the attention of the entire crowd. Coming out from the smoke were the bodies belonging to the two gehenna guard who was knocked out with injuries on their bodies.

"None of you have any idea how long I've been waiting to do that."

A sudden voice belonging to a child made it to the ears of the crowd, but if it were at a normal volume than there was no way that all of them could've heard it. Taro and even the old devils recognized that voice, the latter due to watching their previous matches and others due to believing he had died. Walking out of the smoke holding one of the guard's speakers, which amplifies their voice.

"…now way in hell."

Taro's tone was low, but his anger could be felt in his words.

Standing in the middle of the arena was Kensei Amagiri, the child he thought had died a month ago and ended a potential threat to his ambition. He thought that had died last month.

"Taro-dono what is going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Taro gritted his teeth and turned towards one of the old devils he thought killed the ten-year-old. "You all told me that he died."

Though he tried to maintain his composure, there was obvious anger and rage in his voice, which resulted in one of the old devils to let out an annoyed sigh in return.

"Watch your tone, Taro-dono."

"Don't overstep your bounds."

Two of the old devils talked back to him in a superior tone causing a vein to appear on his head due to just how much he had been gritting his teeth and tightened his fist.

"But," another old devil stared as Kensei continued to walk until reaching the middle of the arena. "That kid was, in fact, half dead after the beating from last year and should've have died. We sent him to a location farther from the Shinto Faction, which was brimming with dangerous youkai who should've eaten him the moment that he had arrived there. And by all accounts, he should've died without resistance."

"Well, how's that working out," Taro had questioned as he turned towards them. "You had him sent off the island. Did you ever consider what could've happened if he surprised?!"

"Yo, Taro. I know you're up there with those old bastards."

Kensei had directed his attention towards the exact VIP room where both Taro and the old devils were, however, it surprised Taro since there was the magic that made them invisible from the outside imbued into each of the rooms. He directed his attention to the middle of the arena where Kensei had been standing and held the speaker built in his device and started to speak.

"Well, this is surprising. And here I thought that you had died a month ago," Taro declared. "You're a far tougher brat than I had originally given you credit for. Now, why did you come back here? Did you forget that…?"

"Well, I thought that I'd come back and drag both you and your partners from your pedestals."

Kensei interrupted as he held his arm up revealing that the gehenna bracelet on his arm wasn't there anymore.

"Was this was you were referring to," he questioned without noticing the scrunched up face belonging to Taro. "I don't have to worry about you pulling anything with this thing out of the way."

[I don't know what you plan on doing, but you should've remained in Japan or wherever you came from. How do you think you are? Is this just a familial thing, barging into my business and trying to ruin everything that I worked so hard to build up?! Didn't you learn the lesson after I had your mother killed?! You're standing against an entire military force that makes the ones in the human world look like a bunch of children wielding water pistols! I can have any of the several brats on this island killed with a single command! So, why don't you just be a good boy and have another bracelet placed on you and behave?!]

Kensei could hear the anger behind his voice bordering on a child throwing a tantrum after having one of his toys taken away from him, which caused the actual ten-year-old to give a slight smirk. Around the crowd, there were some people if not all of them who was looking at what was occurring with interest. All of which were also all being recorded and podcast across Hagun Island.

 _"Alright, Zane's advice is started to work out. If I can get the attention of everyone on the island, then it'll make a big difference in giving them all the time they need,"_ Kensei smirked before turning towards Taro who remained hidden from sight. "Come on, I know that that usual playful and brilliant Taro is starting to lose his cool. But, since your little match was ended why don't we have another."

[What're you talking about?]

"I planned on coming back here to crush this entire operation starting with the gehenna guard including that blind bastard, Hayashi," Kensei declared. "So, why don't we make this a little battle royal with your whatever number of the gehenna guard you want against me?"

….

….

….

There was a long pause as that request reached the ears of all the people and a lot of them stared at Kensei as if he were insane. Soon enough, laughter started to roar across the entire arena much louder than their clapping in their prior cheering to all of them had done in the past.

"Hahahaha! Is this kid insane?!"

"He plans on taking on the entire gehenna guard himself!"

"Don't get cocky just because you come from a clan of freaks!"

"You're still a brat in the end!"

"This isn't a match, this is a…."

Doooon! Dooooon! Doooooon!

[Uwaaaaaah!]

Instead of cheering, the entire crowd let out a scream of shock as the barriers in front of them resounded as soon as an explosion of fire, wind, and lightning had come into contact with them. It had come from Kensei who held a total of three talismans in his hands. In response to their screams, Kensei sent them all a glare that sent a severe chill down their spines.

"If I wanted the opinion of the audience, then I would've asked," even his voice was cold-causing even those who weren't humans to feel a chill. "And don't think that a barrier will be able to protect either of you. It won't take me a couple of minutes to get through, but I don't want to waste any time doing that. So, why don't all of you just sit there, be quiet, and watch the show?"

….

No one in the crowd spoke another word in the presence of this child as he redirected his attention towards Taro, who at the press of a single button removed the magic cloaking on the VIP room glass. Kensei looked toward the expression on Taro's face and noticed that it was scrunched up, but it seemed as if he were trying to control the anger welling up inside of himself.

[Fine, have it your way.] Taro spoke in a tone that displayed callousness before using the device in his hands to contact the gehenna guard. [All gehenna guards available and stationed around Paradise come into the arena using the emergency teleportation magic-circles to deal a minor inconvenience.]

There was another moment of pause before several magic-circles started to appear around him and seemed to number into the higher double digits. Due to the sheer size and diameter of the arena, their numbers didn't even fill most of it at all. All of them were still well-equipped in the usual special-made white and black armored combat suits armed with either various guns or swords. Each of them turned their attention toward Kensei who remained in the middle of all of them.

"Huh?"

"Wasn't this the brat who died?"

"I was certain that he died last month."

"Tsk, so this brat survived."

Several gehenna guards started to talk among one another loud enough for Kensei to hear them and he knew that the two gehenna guards talking were the ones from last month.

[This has just turned into an amazing surprise! Our wonderful host, Taro has announced a surprising event to our illustrious crowd with the gehenna guard taking on the challenge of our young challenger! How will this all end?! Will the gehenna guard be victorious and decided this young fighter?! Or will a miracle occur and assist the child in claiming victory against them all! Everyone place your bets!]

As soon as that announcement came from Alexei, the crowd started going wild with both cheering and clapping, which seemed almost like thunder crashing. Kensei ignored them and instead turned his attention towards the gehenna guard who surrounded him. The first among them to step forward were the two gehenna guard that had tried to kill him a month prior, the magic-user held his hand up forming a magic circle in front of him.

"Look, why don't we get this over with? You're just embarrassing yourself."

"Didn't you learn your lesson?"

After that question left out the mouth of the aggressive gehenna guard who had his weapon pointed at him, while the magic-user released a fireball towards him.

"I did learn something over the past month."

Kensei spoke at a volume low enough for them not to hear him as the fireball continued to sail towards him, but a moment before it could make contact, he vanished from sight causing great shock in the gehenna guard. Before either of them could react, he appeared in front of the magic-user with his fist balled up and pulled back. Then in a single sharp motion, launched a strong punch in his stomach causing his body to be lifted into the air as bile escape from his mouth.

"You son of a…."

After realizing what happened, the gehenna guard pointed his gun at him and was prepared to fire, but stopped as Kensei unsheathed his katana and sliced it apart in a fluid motion thus breaking it. He later propelled himself into the air and performed a downward kick on top of his head causing the gehenna guard to be knocked out in a single attack. Seeing that two of their own caused a serious expression to appear on their face as their weapons and/or magic were being prepped.

"Here's what I learned," Kensei added as he turned towards them. "Without real proper training, even if you have strong equipment, it doesn't make you either strong or skilled…just hired thugs. And I'm here to broadcast that to everyone on Hagun Island."

Upon hearing that declaration from Kensei, the gehenna guards in front of him started to grit their teeth in anger and annoyance after being told that by a child of people.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on Hagun Island, the others apart of their plan had started to do their part for them to ensure that everything goes as planned. Aside from Kensei, all eight other kids had started to run around to do their parts in this plan.

[Mission Start!]

That was the single thought that resounded in each of their heads as they steeled themselves for whatever could happen next before them.

"Let's get started!"

Kensei declared as he pointed his katana at the gehenna guard.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the twelfth chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, Kensei's training with Sun Wukong is over and he learned the basics of three Chinese martial arts from him, which he will further expand on in the future. He returns to Hagun Island to find out the situation with Claire and the others, then later has a heartfelt reunion with all of them with Claire being the most shocked/happy about it. It later goes to them making their final preparations for their final struggle for freedom. And in the end, Kensei made his return to the arena, but this time challenging the gehenna guard to a fight. This is the final battle that all of you have been waiting for and it will be a long one.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Yasaka, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.**


	13. Rebellion on Hagun Island Part 2

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **Rider126: Trust me, each of them will get what's coming to them.**

 **Guest: Thanks.**

* * *

 **Rebellion on Hagun Island Part 2**

Meanwhile, in Paradise, both Zane and Claire were running down the paths, which each of them were allowed to not "disturb" Taro's guests. Both of them stopped running after seeing that the people were in a state of panic as many armed gehenna guards were running in various directions; most of them were in the direction of the arena were Kensei was. A lot of the patrons there were all looking at them in a state of panic.

"What happening?!"

"I think there's a riot in the arena!"

"Who was it?"

"I heard that it was that kid who went missing last month."

Zane could hear the all chatter from the people near them, based on their tones, none of them had experience in situations like this.

"Well, our distractions are working. I just hope that everyone can hold out until we finish our end."

"…yea."

Zane heard the low tone from Claire who remained standing next to him and turned in her direction.

"I may not be the best at motivational speeches like Maria and Kensei, but I know that thing will work out just fine as long as continue doing our parts," Zane added as he turned back around to the tallest tower on Paradise. "All we can do is have faith in each other. And even if you don't have as much faith in me or Maria, but I know you've got faith in Kensei of all people."

He tried to be as comforting as possible, but as Zane said, he wasn't the best person in situations like this as he was most comfortable with coming up with strategies. Much to his surprise, Claire shook her head and looked at him with a slight smile on her face.

"It's not that I don't trust either of you," she replied. "None of us here, whether in our group or others could rely on the support or trust of adults and could do nothing but rely on one another. That kind of life sounds a little sad but there were a lot of people able to survive together as a single unit rather than alone. Even the teens who've been here for much longer gave their support for us and gave us advice. And besides, I couldn't have asked for better people to be friends with."

Claire smiled brightly in a manner that Zane had seen when she was around either Kensei or Alice causing him to return a similar smile.

"Even Hisui."

"Don't push it."

Though Zane meant it as a joke, Claire's turned away from him with both her arms crossed, while letting a slight "Humph" escape from her mouth. It was almost like a child not wanting to admit whenever someone was right. A second later, her attention was directed towards the object wrapped around his arm using chains.

 _"To be honest, I didn't think that Zane would have something like that."_

* * *

Several minutes before

Inside of the residence of Kensei, Alice and Claire, Zane held his hand out as silver chains were wrapped around his arm extending to his forearm. All the chains wrapped around the four corners of a single silver book that had magical text engraved on it with a silver cross-linked to the other chains. Maria stared at the object with a look of shock on her face after recognizing the book.

"This is my source."

Zane declared as he held it in front of him with a smirk on his face.

Maria stared at the grimoire as both Hisui and Kensei to a certain extent could sense that there was something a little odd about the grimoire.

"I-Is that a grimoire?"

Maria questioned with her disbelief being in full display.

"…a grimoire?"

Iris questioned.

"There are books that have different kinds of magic contained in them. Based on the magician who wrote it and from what era, then there could even be ancient or lost magic contained within on. But, I thought that most of the grimoire was found in places such as the Magicians' Association or magic libraries. However, I do recall that the Norse Factions has the most advanced magic among the others and Zane does come from there."

"I found this grimoire by chance," Zane stated as he smiled at the grimoire. "Alright, I need your help, Amelia."

"Why are you talking to the grimoire like…?"

That question from Layla was stopped as the grimoire released a bright silver light as all the chains were undone and the grimoire enlarged into a normal-sized one.

 _"…that reaction."_

Maria thought as she recalled that the grimoire opened up after reacting to his voice.

"Alright, I don't have time to go into full detail, but even I don't know much about the origin of this grimoire," Zane realized from the expressions on their faces and a lot of them had a lot of them were confused. "To cut things short, this grimoire has a unique kind of sentience referred to as an index, a being who resides inside the book. This one, in particular, is referred to as the Magus Akashic, which is an encyclopedia of different magics."

"So many things are popping at once," Maria sighed to herself and placed her hand on her forehead. "This explains the reason why you've been able to use different spells, but who on earth could create something like this. I can't even recall hearing about the most skilled magicians making something like this."

"I don't know either, but that's what I want to found out in the future. But, it isn't without its limitations, one, in particular, is that I can't use magic that is above my current level of skills. Meaning, I can't do anything like magic that can control time, but Amelia has been helpful none the less. Because of this, I came up with the perfect idea to give us an edge in this plan."

"What's that?"

"A spell that can temporarily mess with the signals that are sent to the bracelets the rest of us are wearing."

That caused the rest of them to become shocked after hearing Zane speak about it casually, causing various memories to return to their minds of several other magicians who tried that.

"But, if you did that they wouldn't that end up killing us in the process?"

Rui questioned with a hint of worry in her voice.

"I know what you're talking about, but what I plan on doing is a little different from before. Before, all of them tried to interfere with it directly, but I'm planning on interfering with it indirectly."

Everyone became confused about what he was talking about causing Zane to continue his explanation.

"I'll cast a spell that'll create a barrier around us without messing with the bracelet itself, which will be able to hinder the signal being sent to our bracelets. I was planning on studying it a bit more, but we don't have much of a choice but to try it right now."

"Which reminds me."

Kensei spoke out as he reached into his pockets pulling out a slip of paper that had different writing on it.

"When I told Sun-sensei about all of you, he asked if there was someone skilled in magic, then I said that Zane is the one with the magic knowledge. And so, he wrote down a bunch of stuff that is outside of my particular area of expertise."

Everyone knew that Kensei's clan was more into the eastern magic so the magic outside of that system is a little more complicated for him. After receiving the note from Kensei, Zane scanned through it with an interesting look on his face, which soon turned into a smile.

"These notes explain the kind of magics is imbued into it. This is just what I needed, it'll just need to alter some things around and things will work out fine. I was planning on teaching the spell to Claire just in case, then test it on me first."

Zane declared without hesitation caused the rest of them to stare at him in surprise, but neither of them could tell if it was due to his confidence in his magic or compassion toward them. A lot of them thought that it was both.

"Before we get things started," Zane spoke up looking toward Alice. "Alice just how many monsters are you able to create at once?"

"Well, it takes both stamina and proper concentration to create different monsters," Alice replied as she crossed her arms in thought. "I've never gone over six monsters if I were to make any more than that I don't think that I'll be able more without draining my stamina and having to take a break."

"Yea, Alice-chan's stamina is her greatest weakness."

Hisui pointed out, which everyone already knew about as Alice never ran around on her own and instead rode on top of the monsters that she created.

"But, what do her monsters have to do with anything?"

Rui questioned causing Zane to send her a wide smirk.

"Well, it'll be difficult for us to get into that room without another distraction aside from Kensei."

Most of them realized what Zane was referring to, then he turned towards them with his index finger held out.

"This is what we're going to do…."

As Zane started to explain the plan to all of them, which soon resulted in all of them nodding their heads.

* * *

It has been just a couple minutes after Kensei had challenged the gehenna guards to a fight in the tournament, in which like usual, there was a holographic projection of the fight being sent across Hagun Island. His challenge as been spread across the entire island causing a stir in their captors, patrons, and captives. However, in one place there wasn't much attention being targeted at the fight.

"Shoot them, shoot them!"

"What the hell is going on?"

"Aren't these the monsters from gehenna?!"

Near the area where the gehenna guards were stationed near the residential areas, there were several buildings, which were built for them to rest and reside in. However, most of the buildings' walls had large holes in them due to the battle that was occurring. Several different shaped humanoid monsters were attacking the guards who were stationed there, most of them sent the guards back into the buildings.

It didn't take them long to realize that these monsters had come from Alice, who had fought several times inside the gehenna tournament. Despite their greater numbers compared to the twelve monsters, none of the enhanced bullets was able to pierce their rough skin. Though some of them were mercenaries who had experience against the supernatural being, this was something above their level. And a lot of them didn't have that much experience in close-quarters combat, which is why they relied on guns to fight from a longer range.

"Are reinforcements on their way?!"

One of the guards questioned as another one of their own was sent backward into a wall knocking them out.

"Some magicians are being sent here, but this isn't the only place being assaulted! That brat from last month is at the arena fighting against the others."

More and more of the guards started shouted in frustration as more and more of them were being taken down, as a result of the children, which were supposed to be easier to guard.

"Wasn't there supposed to be a tracker that tell the locations of those brats?!"

"There is, but it isn't locating them for some reason!"

"We're receiving word that there are other locations were guards are being stationed in the residential areas that are being assaulted by monsters!"

"What?!"

Nearby, Hisui had sat down next to Alice with both her hands placed on her back as a bluish-white aura covered them, while the latter started breathing out exhausted. Her weakened body coupled with going over the step limit of her sacred gear had caused her to become more tired compared to before. Near them is the same kind of wolf which Alice had used to travel around during the tournament and it just laid there waiting for a command to come from its creator.

"Are you alright, Alice-chan?"

Hisui questioned worriedly about the blonde girl who nodded her head.

Zane had known that senjutsu users could heal injuries and stamina, as well as mental fatigue, which was why it was important for someone as skilled as Hisui to remain close to Alice. Alice started to feel far better and better by the moment. This was the second area that she had released monsters on, causing the attention of the guards to be directed on dealing with them.

"I'm fine, but this is the most monsters that I created…I would've passed out a long time ago if it wasn't for you."

Alice replied as she sent her a faint smile.

"No problem, but Zane thought all of this out in such a short amount of time."

"Yea, he's the brains among our group."

Alice sighed as she held her hand out, then watched as her shadow started to twitch and move as if it were alive, which started moving around more and more.

"Alright, I think that I'm ready again."

She stood back up to her feet causing Hisui to remove her hands and stopped using the healing aura of senjutsu.

"Then let's move onto the next area."

Hisui has pulled out a talisman she received from Kensei and was the same one that he had first used to appear invisible in front of others. Before Hisui could use it, however, a magic circle appeared near them and the voice of Rui has come out of it.

[Hisui, Alice. How are things progressing?]

"We're about to head to the next location that Zane asked us to release the monsters. How about you four?"

[Things are going great on our end. We already met up with Abigail and explained most of the situation.]

"That's good. We're about to leave this area before we're noticed."

[Be careful.]

"You too."

As soon as both best friends and roommates said their final goodbyes to one another, the magic circle vanished, then both Alice and Hisui had gotten on top of the wolf. The jade-haired girl soon used the talisman to appear to be invisible, then used senjutsu to mask their presence.

* * *

Inside of Residential Area B, Maria and Rui had joined Abigail after explaining the entire situation, while being on the run toward their next destination. Despite her being ecstatic to hear that Kensei had managed to survive, she wasn't able to help but laugh after hearing about the situation.

"Ufufufufu, to think that he met up with Sun Wukong and Yu-Long of all people."

Neither Maria or Rui could refute what Abigail had said as both were close to doing the same themselves after all of them heard about it from Kensei. Though all three of them continued to head towards their destination where a most important task was given to their group, the three of them could see the fight progress through all of the projection screens sent across the island.

"But, even for him, this is a little reckless."

Abigail added after becoming serious for a moment after noticing the wide difference in numbers between both of the sides alone.

"He's been back for not even a single day and he's planning on taking on the gehenna guard alone."

"Well, if things go as we all planned, then he won't be alone anymore."

Maria declared as she stopped signifying that their destination has been reached, both Rui and Abigail didn't even sense the slightest ounce of fear or doubt in her tone.

"If things go alright, that that'll mean we'll regain our freedom."

Rui added as she noted most of the children from Residential Area B had been gathered in separate groups as a magic circle that drawn under their feet with what seemed like a barrier protecting them. Even if things went just as planned, the children would be the obvious targets in the sudden chaos as they could either be captured and used as leverage against them or even taken off the island to ensure that their business could still be saved.

After noticing them, one of the older male teens looking to be around the same age as Abigail began to approach them with a slight sigh escaping their mouth.

"We're all making a barrier around the kids as asked. In the middle of all this chaos, they'll end up being the most dangerous due to their age and inexperience."

"Thank you."

She replied with a smile on her face.

Abigail was well-known and liked not just the children, but others near her residential area, it wouldn't have been odd for either of them to do as she requested of them. Though she could tell that there was a grim expression on a number of the older teens' faces, which both Maria and Rui noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"Look, a number of us did this just because you asked us to. And since all of us knows that the other kids could all end up getting involved in this fight. But…."

"But?"

"This is insane," he had bluntly pointed out. "How does trusting children who are just a couple of years younger than the ones' beings us going to do what others our age couldn't? We've all been here for must longer and we all know what happened before to the others who tried to fight back. And each time, things started getting worse and worse…that kid, Kensei ended up stirring up Taro even more compared to all those other times."

Abigail could understand where he was coming from and realized that consequences that could occur if things all started going awry. Of course, Maria and Rui knew the chances of failure and success as anything could happen to all of them.

"Look, I know that things have seemed bleak for all of us, but if we don't do anything then…."

"Then what, things are terrible for us, but at least we're all still alive right now!"

The male teen raised his voice at Rui who was attempting to explain things causing her to back down a bit, but a more calm Maria stepped in front of her.

"Do you believe that 'just being alive' is good enough? Being fed whatever we can grow on this island is keeping all of us alive and fed. Can that be called living? The people who can survive the longest are those the ones who fight in their life-and-death tournament, and even then there is the chance of catching the attention of Taro's patrons. Then we'll end up being forced to leave and sold somewhere else doing god knows what. Most of them end up being reincarnated into devils, then end up being treated like nothing more than servants…no matter the destination here or somewhere else there is no freedom for us. And even if we end up getting away from our new 'masters' we'll end up being classified as strays and hunted down like dogs."

Upon hearing Maria's declaration, the male teen couldn't find anything plausible as a refute, but he couldn't find a single positive about this situation either.

"…what plausible thing could you come up with to make us believe that things will turn out alright? What kind of hope does anyone of us have?"

Hearing him question them caused Rui to once again step forward and held her hand up, initially making the teen believe that she was about to hit him. But instead, she pointing toward the projection near them, which displayed Kensei fighting against the gehenna guard.

"Kensei Amagiri, despite everything that happened to him before coming here, there wasn't a single doubt, which surfaced in his heart. Losing his entire clan and later his mother, then being forced to live on here didn't result in him losing the desire to live. And last month, he suffered a beating that no one his age could've survived and he recovered from that after being freed of both this cage," Rui started speaking her mind with the faith that she had in one of her closest friends being revealed. "Kensei had the choice to never come back here again and live a life anyone would desire. Did he run away? Did he abandon his friends? No, he trained to become strong enough to come back and everyone here. What would you have done if you got the chance to get away from here?"

Again after hearing those words someone much younger than him, he couldn't give a single response. Maria and Rui continued to stand behind what they had said defending Kensei who was doing his best for them. Abigail this time stepped forward in front of them with her hands placed together as if she were beginning to pray.

"I heard from my father once that even in the bleakest of situations there will always be a light in front of humans, which will guide them to a wonderful future. However, if one doesn't dare to walk forward towards it, then no results would come about and humans will just remain in that darkness. The situation that we are in is as my father said, there is a light in front of us and if we don't follow it, then we won't be able to have a future."

Abigail's words were the nail on the coffin as those older teens who remained near them could hear their words as a spark of hope started to be lit within them. She smiled in a manner that seems as if an angel just appeared right in front of them.

"Please believe in the hope and light named Kensei Amagiri. He deserves that much after choosing to return just to fight for just the freedoms' of those important to him, but for all of us."

And those words hammered the nails in causing the male teen to nod his head in agreement, then scratched the back of his head as he glanced to the side.

"Fine then, we are almost finished putting barriers around the children as asked, as well as the magicians doing as Zane had instructed and are creating a magic circle meant to transport."

The male teen replied as he started going toward the other teens who continued to gather the children inside the area together in barriers.

"Thanks for telling them to have faith in Kensei, Abigail-san."

"No no, you don't have to thank me. I just told them what my father used to tell me," Abigail waved off her thanks and gave them a generous smile. "Besides, I have faith in him as well."

"Sister Abi."

Abigail could hear the soft tone from a younger blonde girl who seemed to be carrying around a small stitched up plush bunny.

"Yes, Jess."

"Are we going somewhere?"

"Umm, if things go fine," Abigail replied kneeling in front of her. "Then we'll be going somewhere else and we'll never come back."

"Promise."

"Promise. Now, go join the others."

"Okay."

Jess smiled cheerfully and ran to join the other children inside the barriers.

"Jess arrived here just a month ago after Kensei because her parents were scared of her," Abigail had informed them. "She was so confused about what was happening and respond to that her sacred gear activated and rampaged. It took her a long time to calm down and her sacred gear also calmed down turning into that adorable little plushie. I know that sacred gear users can't have a normal life since normal humans and other supernatural beings would view more as dangerous, but that doesn't mean that any of them should live in fear."

Hearing that caused Maria to direct her attention toward the projection screen.

"You're correct," Rui replied further having more respect towards Abigail. "Well, I need to head out. There was a task that Zane had told me to do after helping you all gather everyone."

"Alright, be safe."

in response to her compassion, Rui nodded her head with a smile on her face and headed towards the place that Zane had informed her to go.

 _"Kensei, you better win this fight and keep your promise."_

* * *

In the middle of the arena, several guns and magic started being fired at the lone target who continued to run all around the battlefield. And that lone target was Kensei who avoided each of the bullets with little to no effort while dodging the magic aimed at him at a hairsbreadth. If it wasn't for his martial arts training with Sun Wukong, which sharpened his basic physical abilities and learning senjutsu, then doing all this would've been more difficult.

Kensei had dove behind a large boulder as he heard all the bullets and magic being smashed against the stone, which started to wither down as their attacks smashed against it.

"I don't want to do anything reckless like diving into gunfire and magic."

He said to himself as he glanced to the ground noticing the small pebbles on the ground formed from the boulder he was standing behind, then picked them up. Kensei stood behind the rock in an attempt to find the timing in the pattern of attacks and after noticing an opening he jumped upward into the air, then clenched his fist gathering a bit of spiritual power in his hand infusing it into the pebbles.

"Fūtan."

Kensei launched the pebbles at the armed gehenna guards without needing the chant the usual spell, releasing a series of wind bullets at them.

[Argh!]

Several of the armed guards had either their weapons broke from the bullets or had their arms numbed due, as a result of the hard impacts from the wind bullets. Taking that chance, Kensei rushed at the defenseless guards at a fast pace with his sword unsheathed and slashed each of them across the chests cutting through their white armors causing their blood to spill out from the opening.

The moment that their bodies touched the ground, a magic circle appeared under them giving off light as their bodies vanished from sight. It was an automatic transport magic circle, which removes their bodies from the arena as soon as the guards were unable to fight anymore. Not taking skipping a beat, Kensei continued with his assault of the gehenna guards wielding his katana.

"Dammit!"

Several of the guards pointed their guns at him, then started to fire releasing a hail of bullets.

In response to the hail of bullets being fired at him, Kensei covered himself in touki, raising his bodies' defenses higher compared to before. He could tell the path of the bullets based on the angle of the guns but knew that he couldn't avoid them if they came at him all clustered together at proximity to him.

 _"Tch."_

Kensei felt the bullets smash against his skin causing a painful sensation on his skin, but none of them can penetrate his skin. He had trained in just the basics of senjutsu, meaning that he gained better control over using touki compared to when he just figured it out after being angered. Though he couldn't expand it without wasting a lot more ki, which was a chance that Kensei couldn't take considering the situation. This meant that his touki has to remain just cover his skin meaning he still could feel some of the impact that was being most strikes.

He ignored the pain from the bullets smashing against his touki while cutting most of the bullets that he could in half and after propelling himself from off the ground using a strong kick. He rushed forward towards the gehenna guards all aiming their bullets at him, then channeled ki into his blade causing it to shine with a bright light.

"Zantetsuken!"

Kensei shouted as he sent a powerful slash that slashed several of the gehenna guards causing their bodies' to fall on the ground.

"Son of a…."

Before more of the gehenna guard could start shooting their guns, Kensei rushed forward hitting a number of the guards using several punches and kicks in rapid succession. One of the guards behind him pulled out a second handgun from their hostler and aimed it at Kensei's head.

"Die you little bastard!"

Bang! After the guard fired the gun, Kensei noticed the direction and speed, then pivoted his body turning around away from the bullet's path. In response to that, he rushed towards the guard and spun himself around before he struck the guard hard in the back of his neck using a chop knocking him unconscious. In response to their defeat more and more magic circles started to appear taking away their bodies.

[What a wonderful spectacle! Our little challenger is holding his own against the gehenna guards! I wonder what kind of training he had done to become this strong! Now that this little warm-up is finished, what will he do against the next guards?!]

"As soon as I'm done here I'm gunning for the announcer next."

Following Alexei's announcement, more magic circles started appearing from them were several more guards all armed with either swords or guns. Neither of them made a single movement as Kensei turned in their direction in a somewhat cautious manner as he stared at them.

 _"There's something up with the guys who just showed up, from their stances, almost neither of them are grunts like the guys that I just beat up,"_ Kensei said as he fixed his grip on his sword. "…eh."

One of the sword-wielding guards rushed forward at Kensei at a speed that he wasn't expecting at a moment, but he could sense an attack being aimed at him and bent backward as a sword went passed his head. Floating just above his head were the strands of hair that the guard had cut off.

Following the rhythm of their ally, one of the gun-wielding guards released a hail of bullets at him the moment their comrade moved outside of their line of fire. Before the bullets could make contact with him, Kensei started to run sideways avoiding the bullets but jumped backward after some of the gunfire was aimed in his path. One of the unarmed guards jumped up into the air in the same direction as Kensei, with his fist pulled back and threw a strong punch at him.

Kensei turned himself around and crossed his arms in front of himself to guard against it, due to the force behind that punch, he was sent backward toward the ground. Before hitting the ground, he recovered by using an ukemi, which is a maneuver letting him sustain no damage from the landing and stood back up to his feet in a prepared stance.

"These guys are professionals."

Kensei said letting out a little bit of a laugh.

* * *

Meanwhile in the VIP rooms where Taro and the old devils, were the human started to release a slight laugh out of his mouth as he stared at the trouble that Kensei was now having.

"Hahaha, taste that brat. Did you think that I just hired a bunch of mercenaries who just survived supernatural that they experience? Among the gehenna guards, I hired also trained former exorcists. I don't know what you did for the past month, but there's nothing that you can do against them."

Taro started to gloat about his guards as he smirked about the predicament that Kensei was in, while the others behind him stared at what was happening.

"Taro-dono, I think that we have an interesting idea."

"Huh, what would that be?"

"Doesn't he have some friends who live around the same area as him?"

"Ah, I know where you're getting at," Taro realized their plan and started to contact the other outside guards with his device. "This is Taro Aoyama, this is an order to take either Alice Evangelista and Claire Belial or even all the other friends of Kensei Amagiri."

[…T-Taro-sama. We have a situation.]

Upon hearing that from the guard give that reply caused his brow to furrow in aggression.

"…what was that?"

The guard could hear the anger coming from that question alone caused his voice to falter even more.

[W-We believe that Alice Evangelista began to release her monsters at different locations where all of the guards are being stationed.]

"You believe? What her signal?! Where are those other brats who hang around their little group?!"

[Th-That's the thing….we don't…know.]

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY ARE?!"

Taro's angered voice echoed throughout the soundproof room causing the old devils to become confused, while the maidservants jumped in response to his anger.

[We connected the technicians to get a read on their locations. …but, neither of them could locate them using all their bracelets as if they're being jammed.]

Everything that was happening was causing Taro to almost lose his mind, with Kensei returning and causing this kind of trouble and….

"Wait, a second," Taro realized something as he stared at the arena. "That little brat is a distraction, I don't know what either of them is planning, but he must have met them before arriving here. But, there's no one among the usual group who can come up with something like this."

"*Sigh* Taro-dono are you telling us that you allowed yourself to be tricked by these brats?"

Hearing that from one of the old devils caused them a vein to begin to pop on Taro's forehead, most of them had even started laughing about the situation.

"What do you mean 'allowed yourself to be tricked'? I used the magic that YOU provided me and YOU all looked over telling me that it was a system without flaw. Neither of you told me that those bracelets could be jammed all the other older brats in the past tried to remove them and ended up dead! If I end up getting caused with all of these brats from different factions, which you all assisted me in finding and capturing, then you'll up being in just as much trouble as I am! So, don't even attempt that blaming crap."

All of them remained silent due to his outburst as everything that Taro had shouted as all correct.

 _"I hate being corrected by a human of all things, but he's correct. With all that we had invested in, if all the things that all happened on this island were revealed, then we could be in trouble. That was the sole reason that we had decided to erase and modify the memories of those who ended up being servants to other high-class devils. No, rumors of this island's existence have started to become a rumor and that Brat Ajuka will without a doubt have at least some interest in its existence and will without a doubt inform Sirzechs. Most of us believed that choosing a group of young yet powerful pure-blooded devils to become the current maou would let us do our business all behind their backs, while they continue with their own business with running the Underworld for their so-called peace and balance. But, Ajuka, in particular, ended up becoming someone we can't act rash against."_

The male old devils had thought as he stared at Taro who remained panicked and talking with the guard.

 _"Neither of us desires to lose our position due to a human's mistake, we should cut all our ties with Taro as soon as possible. This island as well may need to vanish. However, he brings up a good point…what has he had done in the past month. Has he informed someone else about all of this?"_

* * *

During the fight against Kensei and the more experienced gehenna guards, there were slashes on his cheek and arms caused by both the swordsmen guards. Both of them were attacking him in unison, with Kensei fighting the two of them off using his singular katana or redirecting one of them with his free hand, while not at all touching the cutting edge.

He didn't need to glance around the battlefield, he could tell based off their ki that the gunmen were encircling them with their weapons pointed at him. The same unarmed guard that he fought against was nearby waiting for a chance to strike him again.

 _"Their skills are nothing to laugh about, though neither of them is on par with Hayashi, they also make up for it with their both teamwork and experience. I can keep up the pace with these swordsmen and fighter,"_ Kensei surmised in his head as he felt his heart beating at a quicker pace. _"This is bad…. I know that I should be worried about this…but…."_

"…."

One of the swordsmen fighting Kensei remained silent but was surprised by this ten-year-old being able to keep up with him in skill. As both of their swords were locked together, he started at Kensei and realized that the slight hint of a smile on his face despite the wounds.

"…what is the matter with you?"

"So, I'm getting a word out of one of you for the first time?"

"We're mercenaries…even former exorcists most of us hired to kidnap, control, and also kill you brats. So why is it that you're smiling despite having all of those injuries."

"Because there's so much room for me to grow."

"…what?"

From behind him, the other swordsman brought down his sword toward Kensei, the latter removed his right hand from his katana and covered it in touki. Without turning around to face the other threat, he caught the blade in his hand using his touki-covered hand.

"There are so many things that I can improve on and I look forward to doing that in the future."

Kensei got out of the sword lock with the initial swordsman, then he turned his body around aiming a strong kick in the direction of the second swordsman. In response to that sudden kick, the second swordsman held out one of his arms in defense and blocked it.

"There was some good force behind that kick, but…ah…."

Before he could finish, a sudden wave of unease washed across him as he fell to his knees.

"…what was that…?"

"I used senjutsu to damage your body from the inside. You won't be able to build up strength anymore let alone be able to move."

"…senjutsu?"

The initial swordsman recalled hearing about that once and moved away from him by jumping backward, as his comrade vanished through the magic circle under him. At the same time, the unarmed guard rushed at Kensei at quick trained speed.

"Dammit don't rush at that kid like that. If he can use what I think, then rushing in will…."

"I thought of something while I was training for the past month. How can I overcome someone who has far more skill, strength, and experience…it was a simple answer. I just need to outpace them in sheer speed."

Having said that, Kensei focused ki at his feet, then rushed at the unarmed guard at a speed that he wasn't expecting. And struck him at close range he couldn't react to in time, without hesitation, Kensei drove his fist into his stomach driving senjutsu into him causing a loud noise that resounded. This impact caused the guard to slump onto the ground unable to muster the strength.

"I apologize, but I came here to hunt down someone else. So, I can't expend much strength and stamina that I've got to."

Kensei replied as he gave a confident smirk.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the location where the highest tower in Hagun Island, Paradise Tower, Zane before they entered the building used magic to appear invisible on both him and Claire. Though of course, the front entrance required proper access to enter, both children were able to enter the building after some guards and technicians had entered the building in a rush.

Zane was able to find the location of the system for the Gehenna Collars were located using information attained from the reception desk on the first floor. Afterward, they started to head toward the upper-middle floor where the control system was located in through the use of the stairs, as a result of the elevators also requiring a code. But, despite this, both of them were able to scale the floors at a quicker pace having enhancement magic used on both of them due to Zane. Both of them continued running at a higher pace realizing the situation that Kensei and the others were in meaning, neither of them could waste must time.

"I'm impressed that you're able to run at this pace with me. Even before coming here, I received training from my Tou-san, but I thought that you would…."

"Be unable to match…? You're not incorrect, I'm not the most physically fit person on the island, which was why I had cast another enhancement spell on myself."

Zane replied in a joking yet serious fashion causing Claire to agree with him.

It took them a couple of minutes, but they were both able to reach the exact floor where the system was located and opened the door leading there but….

"The doors opening!"

"Zane-san!"

The sudden voice from a male caught their attention, then Claire pulled Zane out from in front of the door, both of them later heard the rapid-fire from both the guns piercing through the door. Instead of him being scared, a loud laugh escaped from his mouth.

"Thanks for that Claire. Hahaha, I thought this was too easy," Zane declared. "Of course, Taro would've thought kept the stairs unlock in case someone attempted to break using the stairs and not the elevators."

"What is the matter with you, Nii-san, and Alice-nee? Don't either of you ever consider the dangers that you end up in after things like this happen?"

Claire questioned as she stared at him in shock.

"Let's face it all three of us are all weirdos in situations like this. Kensei is too confident and used to situations like this to become afraid. Alice is almost apathetic unless you or Kensei are involved or uses the situation to devise a new monster. And I just laugh at myself most of the time for not thinking about this."

In response to that, Claire stared at him with a surprised look.

Both of them remained silent, after hearing the guards walking in the direction of the penetrated door. Neither of them worried about being caught as the spell still made them invisible front sight. A moment later, the door opened revealing the gun-wielding guard looking around the staircase with the light on his gun activated, then he rushed to the staircase to hear if someone was running downstairs.

Having realized that everything that fine, the guard returned to his comrades who remained in their original place and called him out.

"Was there anyone there?"

"No."

"Argh, we're going to get in trouble for shooting the door."

"Humph, who do you think ordered us to do that?"

After that short conservation between the four guards, one of them received a message from the other guards. In a short conversation, which Zane assumed was them informing someone about the sudden noises. Based on how fast the noise had traveled, it meant that there were other people nearby them. This meant that if the slight noise was made, then it meant that more people could arrive.

"Alright, Claire remains standing beside me."

In response to that, Claire stood by Zane as he covered both of them in a barrier, then opened the door again. As the guards noticed the door opening again on its own, all of them pointed their guns towards the door.

"Why'd that door open again?"

"I don't know, maybe this place is haunted."

"I don't think…."

Before the guards could finish magic circles appeared out of nowhere in front of them, then several spears made out of lightning shot out of them hitting the guards' bodies. This caused their bodies' to be severely shocked and paralyzed knocking them unconscious. Moments after all of them fell to the ground, Zane used a spell that bound them in magic bindings and hid their unconscious bodies inside the staircase.

"Don't you think that this is a little too easy?"

Claire questioned.

"Taro is underestimating the people he kept captive here. He has treated people here like animals, he put collars on them and threaten them a couple of times with punishment in an attempt to domesticate them. I bet, he never considered that putting humans though children in situations like this would end up teaching them a lesson about survival and getting stronger."

Claire couldn't help agreeing with him about that. A lot of the people here attained experience through their time spent here combined with fighting against monsters daily and making them direct more anger towards their captors.

"If Taro has any kind of sense of urgency, then he'll keep more skilled people positioned somewhere on this floor if not where this place is supposed to be located."

Having given his explanation, both he and Claire started to head toward their next destination. Before making a turn at the corner, Zane ensured to poke his head out to see if there were anyone stationed in front of a room. It is a process that he continued with but stopped after poking his head out in the last corner. Zane pulled back suddenly and turned in the direction of Claire with his finger placed over his lips.

"From what I could see, five guards are standing in front of the door on the other end of the hall," Zane had whispered in a tone low enough for Claire to hear. "Among the three of them armed guards and two unarmed ones, I believe that the last two are at least magicians skilled in magic."

"What should we do?"

"We can't make too much noise without attracting the attention of others."

Zane explained in an attempt to come up with a plan to deal with them without attracting the attention of others.

Meaning if a firefight were to occur with not only the armed guards but also two magicians, then that will without a doubt attract the attention of the other guards.

"Can't you just knock them out like you did the others?"

Claire questioned as she realized that the spell that he used didn't make much noise and even paralyzed them to the point of knocking them unconscious.

"I could knock out the armed guards, but I don't think that plan will work against the magicians," Zane explained as he looked back at Claire. "But, I have an idea to take care of them both."

Upon explaining the plan to Claire, Zane removed the spell, which made them both invisible and stepped outside from behind the corner in front of the guards. It had immediately caught the attention of the guards in front of him, who pointed their guns at him.

"Isn't that the kids that Taro informed us couldn't be located?"

"How'd you get here?"

"I walked through the front door."

As soon as their words left from his mouth, several magic circles appeared in front of him, which were the same he used to knock out the guards. In response to this, the magicians stepped back as the armed guards fired off a hail of bullets at them. However, all of the bullets were blocked due to the barrier that Zane had created around himself, then unleashed the same lightning spears from before hitting the armed guards knocking them out.

Despite losing the armed guards, the magicians created magic circles in front of them, which generate different elemental powers in front of them.

"I know that you're taking advantage of the chaos to assist your friend, but you're children fighting against people far too dangerous to handle."

"Why don't you be a good little brat and return home?"

"I did have a home beforehand and you guys kinda ruined that."

Having said those words with a hint of animosity, Zane created another magic circle and fired it off at them, but it missed its mark by just a small millimeter. Seeing that caused a slight sneer to escape from their mouths as they were repaired to unleash their attack.

"Hah, that was the last chance that you had to strike back and you missed."

"Any last words?"

"Goodnight."

After giving his "last words", both magicians felt a painful impact on their backs as the equipment both of them was wearing was torn apart by a powerful blast. Just before passing out one of them turned toward their attacker and realized that it was Claire who released a point-blank demonic blast from behind and noticed the magic circle on the wall behind them.

"A basic short-range teleportation spell? I lost to…."

"In a fight, you gotta use your head just as much as your power. A lot of you guys underestimate us just because we're kids, but that can work as an advantage."

Zane replied as he did the same thing as before and wrapped the five guards in magic bindings and pulled them into a nearby room, which was used as storage. Afterward, Zane and Claire had entered the room that the five of them were guarding. At that moment, both of them had found what they were looking for. After looking inside the guarded room, resting in the middle was a complex magic device that had a magic crystal resting in the middle of it alongside various equations.

"I wasn't expecting it to be this intricate. I gotta hand it to Taro or whoever made this to come up with something this complex."

Claire who knew about magic didn't even know about magical items as complex as this, but she was somewhat in awe after looking at this for the first time. Build around it seemed to be ten other towers with magic symbols all inscribed on it. Based on what Zane could tell that the towers looked to have been made from the same materials used to create their bracelets. After taking a deep breath, he created several magic barriers on the door to ensure that no one would interrupt them.

"Alright, let's get started."

Zane held his hand out and summoned his Magus Akashic, which floated next to him as he walked towards the main device in the middle of the room. Once stepped in front of the magic device, he activated a magic circle that was meant to scan the equations being used for the device.

"Uh, Zane what should I do?"

"Based on what you explain the Belial Clan can render the abilities of both people and objects 'worthless' as soon as you understand their properties. Though I haven't found out much about those towers, I can guess that all of them are made using the same materials that our bracelets are made of. If this device as the main system, then that would mean that those towers act as the transmitters, then that means that it supports my theory that our bracelets are the transceivers."

"Then wouldn't it be better to break the towers if they're the transmitters?"

"That's true, but that would too easy. If we touch either of them, then we could activate some kind of trap or there could even be a barrier around them," Zane explained as he continued to work on scanning the device in front of him while looking at his grimoire as a reference. "Though I am worried about something, since the spells I used on all of us, was meant to act as a barrier for the signals being sent to our bracelets. Then it would mean that in being this close to the transmitters, the signal will be stronger than ever and the spell could wear off quicker."

"That means that the longer we remain there, the shorter time that we have before the spell wears off."

"Exactly. If I had to take a guess, then that would be…." Zane started before hearing something wrong both of their bracelets causing a shocked looked to appear on their face. "Hahaha, I'd say a couple of minutes or at least several seconds. I'm starting to think that this is one of the hardest jobs, but I think that I got the gist of it. So come closer so that I can explain the properties…quickly."

Zane put more emphasis on 'quickly' after hearing that the noises from their bracelets started becoming louder by the second causing Claire to almost run to him. As he continued to work on the device, Zane started to explain the basic mechanics of the device through scanning it using both his magic circle and grimoire to a degree that Claire would be able to understand without being confused, while both of their bracelets continued getting louder.

"Okay, that's it! Do it now!"

Zane shouted as he noticed the symbols that started to appear on their bracelets, not waiting time, Claire moved forward in front of the device with her hands held up. Claire had used her clan's famed "worthless" and just as an ominous shine came from their bracelets, the light and equations from the magic device vanished.

"Did that do it?"

Break! Drop!

Claire questioned as she noticed the bracelets on them broke and fell the ground as soon as the device broke for a moment, both Claire and Zane stared at them in disbelief. After all this time almost years for most of them the thing that has bound them was now broken off. Though Zane himself felt close to tears, he wanted to save it for another time and glanced towards Claire.

"Let's not celebrate yet. First, let's break these transmitters."

"Alright. Are you ready Radueriel?"

Claire questioned her partner as who responded in a supportive tone.

[Of course, just remember what I said weeks ago.]

"Yes," Claire nodded her head as she held out her hand. "White Nemesis is a sacred gear based on creating a weapon using both the strong will and imagination. The clearer the image, the better the weapon."

As soon as those words left her mouth, a bluish-white light appeared around her hands and soon materialized a white handgun that has blue lights traced across it. Zane noticed the detail about the gun and realized that it was almost too detailed for a first attempt.

"A gun? That seems a little more complicated compared to what you were working on with Maria."

"This wasn't something that I worked on while training with Maria, but I always noticed Tou-san making repairs to his light swords and guns several times before and after coming back from a mission. So, this is one of the clearest images that I'm able to imagine."

"I see. Well, let's get this over with."

Having said that, Zane started to break half of the towers built around the magic device using magic; Claire, on the other hand, had broken the other half using a combo of her light gun and demonic attacks. After placing magic on the magic device, both Zane and Claire quickly left the room with the intent of going on to the next stage in their plan.

"Should we meet up with Nii-san and the others?"

"No, there's something that I need to do first. I just hope that Rui had finished things up on her end…."

"Freeze!"

Zane and Claire stopped as the guards in the building caught them walking down the halls of the building with all their guns trained on them. Since neither of them had the chance to prepare themselves for an assault, it would be almost too dangerous to make a move without being hit. One of the guards pulled out a device that seemed to be for communication.

"We located two children in…gagagagagaga."

Before the guard could speak another word, the guard in the back placed what seemed to be a stun baton on the neck of the guard knocking him out. Upon seeing this the other guards turned around with a shocked sound that came out from their mouths. Claire was initially shocked about what happened, but Zane let out a secret smile.

"What the hell are you…?"

Quickly, the 'guard' struck the other guards near them using the stun baton, while hitting those that had remained in different parts of their bodies' causing them to fall on the ground. Just one guard remained to point their gun at the 'traitor' before the trigger was pulled, Zane struck him with the lightning spear paralyzing him.

"So, did you find it?"

The 'guard' removed their helmet revealing the voice of an older man, however, there were familiar dog-like ears on top of their head, which Claire recognized.

"Yea," Rui's voice also came out from that male's voice and in a single puff of smoke, the male shrunk down into the size of a girl and in the figure of Rui. A tired sigh escaped from her mouth as she had removed the oversize armor that she wore. "You have no idea how difficult doing this was Zane. As I said, I don't have complete control over my transformation abilities and I can't hide either my tail or ears. I don't get how those guys can wear such restrictive equipment."

Claire and Zane listened in as Rui continued to complain about her particular mission before glancing toward her unbound wrist with a smile on her face.

"I almost lost it after feeling this thing fall off. You two did it."

"We're not done yet. Before meeting up with the others there still two things that I need to do."

"Alright, where are we going next?"

"Taro's office."

Zane replied with a sly smirk on his face.

* * *

Moments before Claire nullified the magic device, in Residential Area B, both Maria and Abigail stood by looking as almost everyone from the other Residential Area gathered there. Among most of the group were older teens who all had been there for much longer compared to them, who continued to watch as the children were brought into different barriers in the area as the magic circle under them were almost finished bring made. The numbers of all of them measured in at least a hundred.

Most of the teens had all gathered there to watch the fight between Kensei and gehenna guards with a great look of interest on their faces.

"So, this is the kid that vanished last month."

"Hmm, how is he able to bring out that much speed to outpace them."

"Whatever it is, it is letting him gain the upper hand against them in speed."

Some teens were giving praise to Kensei who was fighting for their freedom as informed about it by Abigail who was among those with remarkable faith in him.

Before either of them could do anything else, many armed gehenna guards were marching toward all of them their weapons trained on them. Upon seeing them the teens had started to step in front of the other kids unable to protect themselves or control their abilities.

Maria looked forward and noticed that among all of the guards were Jason and Mason, as well as the others who had sworn their allegiance to Taro with Maria directing her resentment toward the older brother.

One of the guards stepped forward holding a device, which amplifies his voice.

[All of you brats and teens whose gathered in this Residential Area. This is a command that all of you return to all of your assigned areas before we are forced to act. You see, this?]

The guard wielding the voice amplifier held up another device, which seems to resemble the ring that Taro wears on his fingers causing the people gathered there to falter as the guard sneered.

[You see after that brat on the projection screen fought against Taro last month, he worked on creating this great invention, which works similar to his Gehenna Ring and with a single command I can immobilize every one of you. Just. Like….]

Just as the guard made a snide comment, there was a sound that resounded across the entire area, which was all the bracelets wrapped around their wrists being broken and falling on the ground. For a second, the people on both sides were shocked about what happened for different reasons. Almost all the teens who had been kept on Hagun Island for years felt as if a large weight had been released from their shoulders, which caused all of them to almost breakdown into tears.

Maria stared at her freed wrist with a bright smile on her face as she realized that one of their plans succeeded.

"Zane and Claire did it," Maria said as she smiled toward them. "I'm sorry were you about to say something."

"Argh."

Having heard that comment from Maria, the guard gritted his teeth and dropped the device on the ground viewing it as useless at this point.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Did something else go wrong?"

"I don't think that we can take on this many alone."

Several guards began to whisper among themselves, but among the guards, there was one mission among the entire group. 'That' individual moved without making a single sound weaved through the entire guard without their intention being known and appeared on the rooftops.

"Well, this became a spectacle. I didn't think that things would go this bad, but as long as I can make things go in a more desirable course for our side."

It was revealed to be Jason who summoned his golden bow and pulled the string creating a light arrow pointed in the direction of the children behind the barrier.

"Nothing personal, but…I have my survival to worry about."

"You truly are a crude person."

A familiar voice came from behind him and it was Maria who noticed his absence, then climbed on the roof that Jason had positioned himself on. He remained facing the direction of the children without turning towards Maria who continued to glare at him unable to move since he was using the kids as hostages.

"I've gotten better since that brat defeated me last month," he replied as the arrow being formed as shining with a better light as if amassing more power to pierce the barrier. "I was hoping to go to that arena and shoot an arrow in his back, but I was sent here of all places to place guard. I don't believe that there is just a thing as morality in this world there's only the strong and weak."

"Where do you believe that you stand on that scale?"

Maria questioned as she prepared to do something before Jason attacked the children.

"The strong of course!"

Realizing his intent, Maria rushed towards Jason who was prepared to release the arrow on the children who're hiding behind the barrier. But, she was late as the arrow was released after crossing half the distance. The golden arrow was release toward the children who realized that the arrow was coming toward them based on the bright light rushing toward them. However, before it could even reach them, there was another light arrow sent in the same direction as Jason's intercepted and canceled one another out.

"What the hell?!"

Jason stood up and stared at the source of that light arrow, which was Abigail who raised her hand towards the path of his golden light arrow. He stared at the incident in shock not believing that Abigail was able to create her light arrow and intercept his. It didn't seem like she summoned any kind of sacred gear to perform that feat, which meant that it had to be something else.

 _"Did she have some kind of light power or sacred gear that control light? Dammit, there is no information about her that Taro or anyone had given us."_

"How are you target innocent children like that," Abigail said in a tone that no one has heard from her and glared at Jason in a manner that no one expected. "I may not be as skilled or strong in combat, but I am quite confident in my light abilities compared to you. Maria, I know that you still have some unfinished business with this 'man'. I'll handle defending the children with the others as you handle him."

"Same here!"

"Yea!"

Other teens gathered around the children kept behind the barriers as everyone here prepared to fight without worrying about the chance of being bound anymore.

"You have my thanks, Abigail."

Having heard that from Abigail caused Maria to let a slight presence be unleashed from her causing even Jason to turn toward her holding his golden bow.

"Since I don't have to worry about you targeting the children. I can focus on taking you down."

"Tch, what makes you think that you'll end up winning?"

"…I haven't shown this to anyone aside from Lucia and Iris."

From all aside around Maria several swords sprung up from the ground like flowers blooming around her, which released a holy presence. It was a creation sacred gear named Blade Blacksmith, which lets the user creates an assortment of holy swords.

"A sacred gear," Jason was shocked about the fact that Maria had a sacred gear as she hasn't used it even once to win her several fights.

"This is our counterattack."

Maria declared her…no all their intention to fight against their captives and win back their freedom.

* * *

In the arena, Kensei has just taken out the last of the trained gehenna guards send after him as a slight breath of exhaustion escape from his mouth. There were wounds on him caused by the swords and bruises on him caused due to the impact caused from their bullets coming into contact with his skin that has been reinforced using what he learned from Sun Wukong.

 _"Can't stop yet, I still don't know the status of everyone else yet,"_ Kensei said as he started to use recover his lost stamina using senjutsu, it would give him enough time to fight for much longer. "Yo, Taro what's taking Hayashi so long to arrive here? Did he stab you in the back or something?"

Kensei couldn't tell the kind of expression that Taro was making as the same kind of spell to keep himself hidden from the outside, but considering that he wasn't talking to him meant that things weren't going good for him. The rest of the guards were taken away through the magic circles on the ground, but no one else arrived using them. However, Kensei started to feel someone else approaching him through the same entrance that he had entered, which leads to the locker room.

"I can sense someone walking toward here."

Kensei thought as he stared at the entrance holding his katana in hand, before scowling after recognizing whose figure it belonged to.

"So, you've survived. To be honest, I'm impressed I've never met anyone who could endure that kind of beating, then survive it. But, what are you planning on doing here?"

He couldn't forget that voice, which belonged to the mercenary leader who his fought almost killed two years ago. She would've won if it wasn't for a last-second interruption by the old devils using him as a hostage causing her to falter for a single second resulting in her death. However, in the end, he required several cybernetic implants to continue his job. Hayashi Namikaze. He stood just a short distance from Kensei who continued to glare at him with an angered look.

"Most of the brats living here has remained here for most of their lives almost the same as domesticated animals kept within a zoo. A lot of them gave up hope to return home a long time ago after failure upon failure of death upon death and loss upon loss. Even if you were to succeed in bringing all of them off this island where would all them even return to? Most of their parents abandoned them out of fear of their mysterious powers whether it was their sacred gears or some supernatural power that were unfortunate enough to be born with. All of them would leave here hunted down by either normal humans who are afraid of them or hunted down by another being among this large world. So, you don't you just…."

"Shut the hell up!"

Unable to handle the words spewing out of his mouth, as well as the crowds' comments about them as if agreeing with every despicable word.

"Who the hell gave you the right to decide that?! What right do you have to decide how someone else lives their life?! Do either of you believe you're gods?! Untouchable! Unbeatable! Every last one of you is just a bunch of pompous bastards who's never done anything for anyone aside for yourselves! Continuing the suck the hope out of other people with nothing else, while you reap the benefits! Continuing to laugh and drink as you watch people who've done nothing aside from surviving! And I can already hear each of you laughing, but let's see if you laugh at this! I already told both a God and Buddha about everything that happened on this island, the latter among them being the Chief God of the Shinto Faction herself! And those old bastards who tried killing me by sending to that mountain to die, I ran into Sun Wukong there!"

Upon hearing those words from Kensei, the crowd became silent, the most notable being the old devils who were all being silent after hearing those words from his mouth. Even Hayashi who has remained calm throughout this entire situation started to sweat.

"What the hell?! This is all your fault! If you had just killed him there, then none of this would have happened!"

Taro surmised as he glared towards the old devils who were equally shocked to the point of breaking down.

"Dammit, did he inform Amaterasu?!"

"That's impossible. There's no way that a child could know the Shinto Chief God."

"That's right, there no way that he could also know the first-generation Sun Wukong."

"It isn't impossible! This brat is among one of the most renown Japanese Clans just under even those among the Five Principal Clans and has served the Shinto Gods for generations. There was even him being able to use senjutsu, which the Monkey King also knows. If what that brat said is true, then Sirzechs and the others will also be informed about this!"

All of them were in a panic realizing that the situation has become completely dire for all of them even if they were to regain control over the children and teens here. The moment that either of them returns to the Underworld, then there is no chance for either of them to come out of this without receiving severe punishment. There even the matter of some of the other old devils who were allied with the business on Hagun Island. All of them would end up losing everything they've worked for. There is no place for either of them to go.

Realizing the silence of the crowd, Kensei began to channel ki into his voice so that he could raise the intensity of his voice.

"And this is to the people who are worried about not having a home to return to! Since coming here, to be honest I was surprised that everyone here was able to work together and maintain a stable life! Several older kids helped me continue living with the two people that I've grown to care about! Whether it was telling what food would be more suitable to survive on and how to make it all last! And hearing about that caused me to feel even madder towards the people who forced them into living that kind of terrible life for years! Who can even call that living?! And so, after all of leave this hellhole behind, let's continue doing that and work together to create a home where all of us can live without being threatened or starving! But…!"

After pausing for a moment, Kensei pointed his katana towards Hayashi who remained standing in front of him.

"If you want that freedom! If you want to live an actual life! If you want to achieve real happiness! Then…!"

Kensei focused ki at his feet again, then rushed towards Hayashi who felt movement and killing intent, then later unsheathed his sword and blocked the ten-year-old's slash.

"Then you have to fight!"

* * *

Back in the Residential Area where the gehenna guards had gathered, the older teens listened in as Kensei had shouted that out loud to all of them. There was no trace of falsehood behind his words and this ten-year-old child had just spoken his mind to everyone there. All of them had felt a sensation stirring inside them, which hasn't once occurred in a long time. Maria smiled as she continued to fight against Jason who maintained his position firing off several golden arrows at her.

"Sheesh, reminded that by a bunch of kids can sure just a man's pride."

"How can we call ourselves soon-to-be adults if we continue acting like this?"

"Well, whether or not we can get out of here. There's one thing that we're tired of."

"Yea."

"These pompous assholes are starting to get on our nerves."

As all the teens who originally lost their will to fight started to recover their spirit, each of them started to reveal a separate kind of presence from their powers whether it was their sacred gear, magic or another power. All of their intentions were directed towards the guards in front of them.

"As the kid said…. If we want our freedom."

[Then we have to fight!]

All of them shouted in unison causing an almost thunderous sound that echoed across the area, and now finally, their rebellion had started.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the thirteenth chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, things on Hagun Island are starting to go haywire for Taro and the old devils are monsters are unleashed, bracelets are released, and all their captives are finally freed. In this chapter, everyone had their parts that they all played with Hisui helping Alice with the exhaustion from using her sacred gear. Claire and Zane who finally reveals his "source", which will be explained in the future and shows what he is capable of with even Maria, Abigail and Rui all showing what they can do.**

 **Kensei continues to fight against the gehenna guard holding his own despite the odds with far more skilled members arriving on the scene. And in the end, he ignites the flame inside the teens who lost the will to fight again before starting his final fight against Hayashi.**

 **Also, there has been a suggestion to add one of everyone's favorite females, Akeno to the harem and as I haven't done so for the others in the individual redoes wanted to hear everyone's opinion about** **it in any of your reviews. I mean, I can see that there are similarities that they have together.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Yasaka, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.**


	14. Rebellion on Hagun Island Part 3

**Welcome to the next chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri, but before starting the story. Let's answer some reviews:**

 **ericsofly2: Thanks.**

 **Robocoaster: Several situations will give Kensei some connections with higher-ranked people, but I doubt that he will ask for aid from the same people who will be coming at them due to Claire being who she is. His training will be revealed in the future, as well as what he still be learning. All he does need is some more training, but Kensei was more using the skills he has now to his make the fight go into his favor. That will be an interesting comparison that Kensei could point out when meeting up with Cao Cao and the Hero Faction. I don't plan on making the harem too big and there will be equal interactions between all of them.**

 **Weslyschraepen: I'm thinking about it.**

 **Arazno: Well that was a comment. The reason that I was hesitant was due to it being something that a lot of people has done and overused. I don't know if it's right to call Akeno a slut since Rias does the same kind of things with Issei. Well, I'm happy to hear that you like the story and kinda, but there are still some that can make the cliches still an amazing read.**

 **Guest: I don't think that Aika would be an adequate match up, but I guess that it depends.**

* * *

 **Rebellion on Hagun Island Part 3**

Meanwhile, in the residential area where everyone had gathered, there was a large-scale fight that occurred with the gehenna guards and their former captives. However, due to the difference in numbers and powers, even the armed guards were losing against the older teens who've been under their thumb for years. And due to the fight, the buildings that all of them used to call their homes were being broken and destroyed due to the powers from their sacred gears of other abilities.

"Dammit it, I'm not being paid enough for this."

"This was supposed to be a simple gig. Just guard a bunch of brats being kept chained."

"This is all because of that brat fighting against Hayashi."

Three guards who hid behind the wreckage of the buildings complained about their current state of their situation.

On top of the roof where both Maria and Jason were fighting, the latter released several golden arrows at the young girl who continued to avoid each of them at a hairsbreadth. And something she cut them in half with the holy swords in her hands, then started coming within range of Jason, she slashed both swords at him.

"Kuh!"

Jason stepped backward avoiding the strike, but there was a slight cut on his uniform. He was reminded about his fight against Kensei causing him to grit and grind his teeth against one another.

"Golden Squadron!"

He roared causing several golden lights to appear around him on the rooftops, each of them was wielding bows such as himself and aimed all their arrows at her. It didn't take either of them long to release their arrows at Maria who placed her hand on the rooftop.

"Sword Barrier!"

From all around Maria long blades formed around her creating a barrier that protected her against the arrows all trained on her alone. Though the arrows proved to be much stronger than he realized as the sword barrier began being broken apart.

"Hahaha, I've powered up since last month against the bastard. If you believe that I'll be defeated again, then you have another thing coming."

"If you think that I haven't come up with a counter-measure than you have another thing coming."

Maria said as she held her hand out and caused the sword barrier to vanish, then caused a line of swords to pop up towards him. He jumped out of the sword line, then was prepared to fire off another golden arrow towards her, but stopped after realizing that Maria had started to rush towards him. It didn't take him long to realize that there was no way he could release an arrow at this distance without a counter. Based on the position of his squadron of archers, one of the arrows could hit him as well.

"Tsk."

For the second time, Jason was forced to step back, but Maria created a sword underneath her foot, then kicked upward this time causing blood to still out from his wound.

"Dammit!"

Jason cursed as he stepped away from Maria placing his hand on the wound that she caused.

Several of the squadrons started to launch golden light arrows at Maria, who dodged most of the arrows, however, the rest of them were shot down and canceled by the same one who protected the children. Jason turned and he realized that it was Abigail against who hand shined with a bright light after canceling their arrows.

"Hahaha, so you can't defend yourself without help."

"This isn't a fight, this is a rebellion," Abigail said as she held her hands out creating two swords, which wreathed in fire and ice. "But, in a normal fight, the results will still be the same."

After noticing the confidence from the girl caused Jason to let out a sneer.

"You're right. This isn't a fight…it is a slaughter."

As soon as those words left his mouth, Maria noticed that several vines started to creep up behind her and tried to wrap themselves around her legs. However, before either of them could do such that, the vines were all frozen and broke apart soon after. Maria smiled as she looked down and realized that Layla (with Iris hiding behind her) and her Glacier Trident stabbed into the vines' base, which Jason had caused.

"I'm here to assist Sis."

"Layla, did you both finish your mission?"

Maria questioned with a smile without glancing down.

"Yes, I never thought that I could use my sacred gear like that."

* * *

All around Hagun Island, there were several people and patrons brought to Hagun Island, who was now in a full panicked state. This was all due to Kensei realizing that both the Shinto Chief-God and a Buddha knew about the occurrences on Hagun Island, which could mean that all of them could be targeted. And so, for emergencies like this there the magic circles meant for them were placed around Hagun Island.

"What the hell is happening?!"

"Why isn't the transport circle working?!"

"What is going on?"

"All of them look as if they're frozen."

However, there was an issue about them, neither of them was working for either of them and it seemed as if all of them were frozen making them unusable.

* * *

"It took a lot of time and practice, but I was able to freeze the transport magic circles around Hagun Island."

Layla said before turning towards Mason who created several mutated humanoid plants who stood in front of her and Iris who remained beside her.

"Iris go join the others and heal anyone who received injuries."

"…okay."

Iris replied as she started to run passed the humanoid plants, but one of them grabbed her by the hand as Jason started to sneer arrogantly.

"Did you believe that I wouldn't have them attack her? Now, I have a…."

Rip! Tear!

Before Jason knew it, he heard the arm belonging to the humanoid plant was torn off by the white-haired girl with her free hand as if it were paper. Moments before she had run to the others, she turned her head towards Jason who felt scared for a moment after noticing her slit eyes that seemed to give off an odd shine.

"You shouldn't underestimate that child," Layla stated as she spun around her trident and pointed it toward Jason and his plant monsters. "And you should pay attention to your opponent!"

Layla declared as she rushed towards him spinning her trident around in her hand, then released a slash of ice at the monster who had attacked Layla freezing a portion of it. Jason clicked his tongue knowing he was at a disadvantage against her. His Arbor Field relies on plants and her Arctic Trident is an ice-based sacred gear.

Mason reached into his pockets pulling out several ominous-looking seeds that have a mysterious shine, then dropped them on the ground. As soon as each of them landed on the ground several, thorny vines shoot out from the ground, then shot towards Layla who held her trident in her hands. She spun around the trident in her hand and slashed one of the vines being aimed at her causing them to freeze from the slash.

"Tsk."

The ground under Mason started to twitch and creating a barrier made from plants that separated both him and Layla from one another. At the same time, the humanoid plants started to rush towards her with their arms turning into a sharp plant-like blade. In response to that, she moved back avoiding the plant-like blade and started to slash each of them using her trident. Despite each of them being shallow cuts, the ice infused in them traveled across their bodies, she later broke apart their frozen parts using the blunt end of her trident.

Layla later stabbed her trident into the plant barrier, which caused ice to travel across the point of entrance and made an entrance for her to get to Mason who still tried to maintain a safe distance from her.

"I may have lost to your brother, but I'm not losing against you."

Layla declared as she rushed towards Mason who continued to retreat backward with an annoyed look.

* * *

"Raaaaah!"

Kensei rushed in toward Hayashi at high-speed, then began to unleash a barrage of slashes using his katana, as the crowd started to panic while leaving the arena. Despite being in panicked himself, the blind swordsman was able to recompose himself and block each strike aimed at him using his katana, which he unsheathed. During the clash between the veteran and child swordsmen, the difference in skill and experience was only further displayed as much as the sun and moon.

"Humph!"

In a single strong-motion using his strength enhanced due to his cybernetic implants caused Kensei to be flung a great distance backward.

 _"Such a force for someone his age."_

It should be obvious with the difference in physical abilities due to their differing age, however, he might have continued to train to maintain much of his diminished strength combined with those cybernetic implants. There is also his level of sword skill being much higher than him meaning that this fight would be more difficult.

But―

'In a battle, anything can happen that could steer the fight into your favor.'

Recalling the words from Sun Wukong caused Kensei to grip his teeth and steel his resolve as he glared towards the blind swordsman.

 _"However, I already knew that to begin with, which is why I planned for this!"_

As soon as Kensei used an ukemi maneuver, rolling on the ground to ensure that he wouldn't take damage from the impact, he realized that Hayashi had already moved. He moved at high speed, then appeared near the same direction as the black-haired child holding his sword with both his hands. Hayashi brought down the sword using a great amount of force, which forced Kensei to block it using his sword.

Kensei was pushed back from the force behind his swing, but the blind swordsman continued with a far more brutal and fast assault. He knew that he would be unable to deflect all if any of the slashes and there wasn't much experience for him to reinforce his entire body using ki, which is why Kensei wrapped himself in touki again to deflect the slashes.

"I must say that you've improved in the last month," Hayashi said in an impressed yet condescending tone. "But, despite being her son, you aren't on the same level as the demon who put me on the brink of death. However, if you were to cease this little tantrum…I train you more properly and you'll reach your true…."

"Cut the crap. As if, I'll ask for help from you of all people…you old bastard! I need help from someone like you to achieve my potential, then I'd rather quit right here and now!"

While being nearby of one another, Kensei had kicked Hayashi in the stomach and propelled himself backward. The impact also caused the old veteran to let out a painful grunt due to not seeing that one coming. In a close-range fight like that, it wouldn't be odd for someone as nimble as Kensei to be able to get off a hit like that.

"…little brat… I tried giving you a chance to survive this. A true swordsman should be able to tell the difference in skill whenever in a fight between and their opponent. I thought that you came from a house that believed in the samurai code."

"Never call yourself a swordsman," Kensei replied as he stood in a prepared stance with his katana while pulling out some talismans. "You're just a murderer and thief who wields a sword."

"It seems that I've been touching a nerve throughout this fight," Hayashi said as he smirked and sneered. "There is nothing that you can do to catch me off guard."

"We'll see about that."

Kensei held the talisman in his free hand, then rushed towards Hayashi who had remained positioned in the same manner as before.

"I doubt that a frontal assault would make things…."

Before Hayashi could finish, Kensei aimed the talisman in front of him and as soon as the talismans landed onto the ground, three thick earth walls rose in front of him. Though the old swordsman could tell that there was something in front of him, he couldn't guess Kensei's intentions.

"Is he attempting to obscure the vision of a blind man?"

Hayashi spoke in an ironic tone, but Kensei through the remaining talisman in his hands, then he launched all the talisman towards three walls causing them to crumble and attached themselves to them. Soon enough the three talismans started to sparkle with lightning and later exploded causing a loud sound. The impact resulted in rubble and a cloud of smoke that covered Hayashi. However, his intention wasn't as a smokescreen.

"Argh!"

Hayashi was forced out of his usual stance and covered his ears using both his hands, which was caused due to the sound generated from the explosion and rocks being destroyed thus close to him.

"Clever bastard."

Due to his blindness, Hayashi was forced to train and hone his other senses, such as his hearing and smell. But, it could also be a disadvantage loud noises and intense smells could knock him off guard due to his other senses being that heightened. Kensei took that chance and he rushed toward Hayashi who had dropped his guard, then slashed his shoulder causing a deep gash that forced him backward.

[What stunning strategies~! Despite the odds against him, the Last Amagiri has managed to wound the Leader of the Gehenna Guard our Blind Swordsman!]

Despite the situation and potential threat to them all, Alexei remained as the arbiter of the match.

"I still don't like this announcer, but at least he's committed."

Kensei had replied as he landed on the ground and rushed towards Hayashi as lightning started to spark around his katana. Hayashi recovered from the assault, sensed the ten-year-old rushing toward him prepared to block it due to their being no time to avoid it.

"Raimeiken!"

He called out as soon as his sword was brought down toward Hayashi's at close-range causing electrical powerful causing the ground to be cracked under the pressure. The old man could feel the electrical pressure all being channeled into him and even started to affect his cybernetic implants.

 _"Dammit, this kid planned and thought this fight through. Using my enhanced sense of hearing and smell against me and even using this technique against my implants."_

Hayashi thought as he gritted his teeth and tried to force him away, however, he quickly reached his hand out to his side and pointed something in the middle of his forehead.

 _"…a gun?"_

Kensei realized what the object was and realized that Hayashi must believe that he wouldn't be able to get away from him during this assault. But―

"Humph!"

Using almost all the strength he could muster, Kensei flung himself backward such causing himself to spin back and landed on his feet.

"Seriously, you thought that a gun would kill me?"

"It worked on your mother," hearing that response caused Kensei to grit his teeth out of anger. "This is also much more effective compared to ones that the other guards use. Taro-dono was planning to upgrade the weapons all the guards use, but due to this interruption I can't see that happening."

Based on the design of the gun, it did look different compared to the ones that the other gehenna guards use, it also had a different presence compared to them.

"Let's how you can handle it."

Hayashi pulled the trigger, normally Kensei would be able to tank it like the others using touki, but he didn't want to take that chance and moved out of the way. The bullet fired went sailing towards a nearby boulder placed right behind him and drilled through it without much resistance.

"It seemed faster and stronger compared to before."

"Guns that the other guards use has been more enhanced compared to normal guns in the human world, this one, in particular, has been more modified compared to those."

Hayashi sneered as he continued to fire off the bullets at Kensei who continued to evade each of the bullets not using touki, but there were some bullets fast enough to graze him causing a wound enough to draw his blood. As soon as Kensei rushed toward him once the bullets in the ran out bullets in the gun after focusing ki at feet again, enhancing his takeoff speed. Though this time, Hayashi stepped to the side and held out his feet in the direction, which he would've gone toward.

"Son of a…."

Kensei was tripped the moment that he came into contact with his feet thus causing him to tumble forward to the point where he almost fell face-first on the ground. Before hitting the ground, he recovered and landed on his feet after skidding against the ground.

"Ah, I see," Hayashi said as he rubbed his chin. "That little technique you've been using to enhance your speed, it must entail emitting ki at the soles of your feet, then accelerates forward using direct speed. But, since that is a little newer, it'll be difficult to make sharp turns."

 _"Well, I thought that he would've figured that out…. I guess, that this is what a lifetime of experience grants you,"_ Kensei surmised as he stood back up to his feet dusting himself off as he narrowed his eyes a bit. _"Hmm, though it bugs me that I still haven't gotten all kinks of this technique down yet. Though, I didn't test it out in a fight yet…. I hate to admit it, but this will be a good experience for later."_

"I believe that you're out of tricks."

"Well, you're wrong because I still have some more."

Kensei replied as he returned to his prepared stance and rushed towards Hayashi with his sword prepared.

[Yo, Kensei.]

He heard Zane speaking to him via magic in his head, which was due to the inconveniences of speaking out loud during a battle.

[Hey, Zane.]

[Huh? You busy right now.]

[I don't think that now is the perfect time for a casual talk.] Kensei replied as he slashed at Hayashi who blocked it again using his sword. [But, yea. I'm trying to put down an old man. Where are you guys right now?]

[In Taro's office.]

[Huh?] For a single moment, Kensei faltered causing him to be pushed back. [Why're you in Taro's office?]

[There was something important that we needed to do to get out of here and not just get rid of the magic device. I still can't teleport everyone off the island due to this barrier, so I have to do something about the barrier, which is covering the island. I doubt that I can remove it, but if I can just make it so that we can at least teleport out of the island, then that'll be alright. Besides, there's something else that I need to do here.]

[And what's that?]

Kensei questioned as he dodged a slash from Hayashi, but a strand of his hair was cut off.

[That'll be a surprise for later.]

[Didn't I tell you once that I wasn't too fond of surprises for different reasons? …Well, it depends on what it is?]

[Trust me, this will benefit everyone.]

[Fine, but is there a particular time limit for this fight?]

[Hmm, well you've been fighting the gehenna guards for almost half an hour. Hayashi for almost twenty minutes now. So, how about another fifteen minutes?]

[How about ten? There is something else that I want to do before leaving here.]

[Do you think that you can beat him with that much time? …wait, you're going to do something reckless again?]

Zane questioned as Kensei was slashed across the cheek by Hayashi, then countered using another slash.

[Look, I had to use a technique that boosts my speed against the more trained guards who had more experience and I hate to admit skill compared to me. The training that I had did lessen the gap a bit, but Hayashi has more skill and experience compared to them and me so I can't beat him in a straight-forward sword fight. This bastard can read me the more we continue fighting and I can't end this fight in a stamina fight since I won't be able to get out of this place. So, if I don't do something reckless, then I'll end up unable to get out of here.]

[You know Claire's going to scold you afterward, right?]

[Well, she can do it after we get out of here. See you later pal.]

[Alright. See you later.]

Both gave their replies before turning off their communication and Kensei focused on his fight again.

* * *

"Are you alright?"

Meanwhile, in the residential area where the guards had gathered, most of them had already been defeated and captured using magic. Though there were some injuries after the most trained guards arrived on the scene which was being taken care of by the rare few among them who were able to heal injuries through either a sacred gear or something else. Among them was Iris who placed her hand over the wounds of one of the male teenager as a silver-gold aura covered her hand as the wound started to close in moments.

"Wow, that's amazing I don't even feel the pain more. How'd you do that?"

After hearing that comment from him, Iris rushed behind one of the rubble from the buildings near them and had pocked her hair out.

"I'm…a little different from others."

Iris replied as she hid behind the rubble again causing the teen to stare at her in wonder, which caused Abigail to laugh amusingly.

"You should know that if you act that way around Iris, then she'll run away. I also apologize for not being able to do anything for you all, but…."

As soon as Abigail realized that one of the golden archers had aimed at one of the guarded children again, a beam of light was released from her hands piercing through the archer and destroyed it.

"…well, I'm busy assisting Maria with Jason. Though, I believe he's almost done."

"Dammit! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

Jason cursed several times and joined his foot against the ground several times after realizing that all his golden squadron had been taken down due to the joined efforts of the others. There were several injuries on his body, which were caused by Maria, as well as burns and ice covering most of his uniform. Him suffering another defeat at the hands of someone much younger than him caused a serious wound to his pride. Maria who as positioned at a distance from him had held her newer sword in her hand, then started to approach him again.

Seeing her take a single step towards him caused Jason to step back, but realized that he had been inching just a little bit closer towards the edge. He had taken a single look back, he noticed that there was another rooftop a short distance from him, which was far enough where he could jump towards there.

"I'm not losing again! Not to another brat!"

Jason roared again as he jumped backward holding his golden bow, which had started shining with bright golden light even greater compared to before. At the same time, an arrow started being formed and the moment that it was released, it separated into several arrows being aimed at Maria. Upon noticing the danger that it would pose, Abigail made a worried look on her face.

"Maria look out!"

She could tell that the arrows were far numerous and bunched together compared to when Jason fought against Kensei last month, as well as making it harder to avoid all of them on the roof. Despite being afraid of them Maria instead looked confident.

"…don't worry I got it."

Maria replied with confident as she held the sword in front of her and rushed towards Jason who was still landing on the roof behind him. As the initial wave of arrows rushing towards her, she created a barrier of swords in front of her, which endured the number of arrows being aimed at her. The golden arrows pummeled through the sword barrier-breaking each of them apart and pour through causing some arrows to leave shallow cuts on her, but she continued rushing forward undeterred.

Seconds later, the barrier had been broken by the arrows pummeling it, then Maria held out her freehand making another sword that has wind circling it. The arrows all started to converge around her in moments.

"Hah, let this be a lesson to…."

Before Jason could finish, a powerful gust of wind was released from the wind sword that she had created, which propelled herself forward at high-speeds avoiding most of the arrows in front of her. Though there were most that pierced her caused Maria to wince from pain while causing Jason to make a frightened expression.

"What the hell is the matter with all of you?!"

"You're correct in some parts of the world there are some who dies because they're weak, but that doesn't mean that you should walk all over them," Maria declared in a strong voice as she prepared her other sword and slashed Jason diagonally across his chest. "I learned a long time ago that the strong should protect those weaker than them and if they're willing…teach them how to become stronger."

"…d-dammit."

Jason cursed for the last time before falling off the roof toward the ground, but before he did Mason held his hand out causing a vine to catch his unconscious body. After noticing his older brother's unconscious, Mason began to clench his teeth out of frustration and reached into his pocket pulling out several seeds and throwing them to the ground.

"All of you can just remain here and die!"

Mason roared as the ground started to bulge up before several pinkish-purple ominous demonic-looking flowers, which all started to blossom in front of him. After seeing that Layla had hesitated for a moment showing concern for the time of threat the flowers could pose them if all of them blossomed. At the same time, Mason ran towards his brother who remained unconscious on top of the vine that he created. No one in the area didn't move as the plants around seemed poisonous enough to potentially kill the people around here.

"I want to go after them, but this is more important."

Layla declared as she started to approach the plants spinning around her Glacier Trident as it started giving off a bright whitish-blue radiance, which released a cold sensation. Realizing the distance between her and the plant, she stepped looking as if she was prepared to launch the trident. Before, she could Abigail and the others moved away towards the children, with the former shouting.

"Layla, the moment that you freeze it! I'll contain it!"

"Okay."

She replied as she finally threw the trident towards the four demonic flowers that had bloomed in front of them, in which bright blue light was generated. Soon enough, the ground started freezing reaching the four flowers that even reached the feet underground and soon covered them. However, despite being frozen, a purple substance started to crack a portion of it and even began to melt it.

Noticing that Abigail stepped forward with her hands held out as light started to cover the entire demonic plant in a barrier made out of light. A purple mist soon started to leak out of the iced-over plant, which seems ominous to where it could cause alarms. Realizing that it could still pose a threat to them, Abigail let a slight breath escape from her mouth as she started to manipulate the light covering it and compressed it into a small compact orb that was the size of a baseball.

As soon as she had done that, no one in the area could say a single word being astonished about it. Maria who had been fighting Jason the roof jumped down as Iris and Layla had walked closer to one another, the brown-haired girl soon looked at them with a light smile on her face.

"You both did a great job," she had stated as she patted both of the tops of their heads causing a bright smile to form on their face, then Maria turned towards Abigail who picked up the small light sphere. "Abigail."

After hearing Maria call her name, Abigail turned toward her with a slight smile on her face.

"Yes?"

To Maria, it seemed that Abigail had already known about she was about to ask her. There was never a single time that either of them had questioned her as there wasn't a single person who would doubt Abigail considering all of the things that she had done for them. But, there wasn't much that they knew about her past aside from the fact that her mother had run an orphanage in the church.

"Nothing, let me see that."

Upon hearing that request, Abigail handed the sphere to Maria who had turned in another direction that she knew no one would be. And using the strength that she could muster up, she hurled the sphere there.

"You know, I could have contained it until we left."

"Can't take the chance of that thing exploding and releasing that poison. Besides, if that thing goes off once we all leave, then it won't matter anymore."

"I guess so. Also, I'll talk about _that_ some other time."

After hearing that from Abigail, Maria faced her and noticed that the older blonde had smiled, while sending her a secretive wink. Noticing the meaning behind it caused Maria to let out a slight laugh and smiled.

"Fine, I guess I can't get anything passed everyone's Big Sister."

"Well, we finished things over here. Now, all we need to do is wait for Kensei and the others to…."

"Hey, everyone!"

All the people in the area noticed that Hisui and Alice arrived with both Jason and Mason who're tied up via using a snake-like monster that the latter created. Though it has just been a short couple minutes after Mason had run away carrying his older brother, both of them were in front of them again.

"Well, who would've thought that we'd run into them this soon?"

Maria had told a slight joke as she noticed that both brothers were placed on the ground with the other guards by the older teens.

"What happened?"

Layla questioned.

"Well, after Hisui and I started to return after leaving monsters at the locations Zane told us. Both Mason started running towards us carrying Jason, then threw the same odd seeds he used in his fight with him. Before either of them could explode, Hisui disabled them and knocked him unconscious using senjutsu. So have you gathered all the people on Hagun Island yet?"

"Yes, everything on our end is completed."

Abigail replied.

"We're just waiting for Zane, Rui, and Claire," Maria added as she glanced towards the projection. "And Kensei to finish his fight against Hayashi."

After hearing that last part, Alice and Hisui turned their attention toward Kensei who was on the screen with both of them noticing that the fight was more-or-less one-sided, but not how either of them hoped. Upon seeing that, Maria crossed her arms.

"Neither of us can complain about him."

"There isn't a single one of us here who could do any better against Hayashi without us teaming up against him."

Several of the teens shared the same opinion as one another.

"Ken Ken has a plan in mind. I just know it. He wouldn't make a promise that he can't keep or enter a fight that he doesn't have a chance of winning when everyone's counting on him like this."

"She's right, Kensei's going to win," like Hisui, Alice also had faith in him, but she later realized something. "But, it could end up being a reckless plan."

After hearing that from Alice, Hisui let out a slight laugh as if agreeing with her and the others around her realized that she was correct about it.

* * *

In the arena, Kensei was being launched backward again by Hayashi who continued to pursue him and slashing his sword, which the ten-year-old blocked using his katana. As their battle continued, both could notice that a limit was being reached in their stamina with Hayashi being the most notable. Hayashi had several tears and cuts on his clothing revealing the wounds that were on his chest and abdomen and the damages to his cybernetic implants that replaced the limbs he lost.

Kensei, on the other hand, had several tears in his clothing to where his undershirt was almost split open, as well as some injuries on himself.

"It's been a long time since I was pushed to this level of exhaustion since reaching adulthood. If you were to live, then you would've become quite the monster when you become an adult. But, there's no chance of that."

"Who would've thought that an old man with so-called experience would jump to conclusions like this. Several situations can turn a battle around."

That comment caused Hayashi to click his tongue a bit as his comment was sound and true. Despite all the odds that have been against an individual no matter how dire, there can always be that one moment that would decide it all in the end. However, the veteran maintained his composure and confidence.

"I hate to admit it, but you're correct," Hayashi replied. "You've been able to impress me time and time again with different surprise attacks and spells. But, this is the end of that. I could kill you in a single instant and still have a large enough window to catch up with Taro to escape before whoever that chief god will send. If you want to live, then it should be in your best interest to use whatever stamina you have left and rejoin the escapees."

Kensei could tell that Hayashi was serious this time due to the stance that he took on realizing that he was going to use this last assault to kill him. Despite this, he maintained his stance about ending this fight with Hayashi not taking the chance that he'll go after all of them again.

"Sorry," Kensei said as he took his stance with his katana. "Whenever I decide something. I tend to never change my mind afterward. This is a fight I can't afford to either lose or run from…I'll end this fight with this one last final exchange."

Hayashi sighed after hearing that proclamation from Kensei, then prepared to move to attack him.

"It's a shame. Then, I'll have to end your future right here and now."

The old swordsman charged at Kensei using high-speed that he was unable to match or rival even through using his ki to boost his speed, but he focused on his sensing prowess of senjutsu. Despite the speed, Kensei could tell that Hayashi was moving straight-forward towards him. And before he knew it, Hayashi appeared before him with his sword being thrust forward toward him.

To avoid being stabbed, Kensei stepped backward, but he seemingly slipped causing his stance to falter and crumble. Taking that chance Hayashi stabbed his sword forward without hesitation and stabbed his sword in and through the ten-year-old child's shoulder causing him to scream.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Kensei wailed as he felt the blade being stabbed into his shoulder to where it almost half of it passed through, his screams caused Hayashi to smirk with arrogance.

"This is what happens when you fight a battle that you can't win. As I said, this is over."

"Ahhh…hahahaha," Kensei winced, but his screams soon turned into laughter causing Hayashi to become more confused instead of arrogant. "Hahaha, you're right. This is over…but, not for me, but you."

"What?!"

Hayashi became shocked as he realized that Kensei covered himself in touki and tightened his grip on Hayashi's arm, which was clenched around his sword.

"Amagiri-ryū, Ukigumo – Tsuiraku Raimei!"

(Translation: Heavenly Mist School, Floating Cloud: Crashing Thunder)

Kensei later lifted Hayashi into the air, then he flipped him in midair alongside him and slammed the old veteran hard into the ground causing him to shout in pain to where it echoed across the arena. The hard impact also caused a great pain that traveled all across his entire body. Kensei didn't give him the slightest instant to recover from the serious impact and pull out the sword out his shoulder and infused ki into it, then stabbed the sword through his cybernetic arm trapping him there.

Kensei still wrapped in touki landed near Hayashi, who still started letting out a haggard breath and recalled what had happened with his mother. She had found out that he was here and came to rescue him, fighting through the gehenna guard until making her way to Hayashi who she had thoroughly beaten. She almost won, but it was that distraction that caused her to lose focus. And it was Taro joined with the old devils using him as a hostage, then she was shot in the chest by the man in front of him.

He had been thinking about beating up Hayashi since that incident, which caused him to tighten both his hands in frustration ignoring the pain that came from his shoulder.

"If it wasn't you. If it wasn't for Taro. And it wasn't for those old bastards," Kensei clenched his teeth with the best efforts not to tear up. "Then my mother wouldn't have died!"

Again, without a single bit of hesitance, he punched Hayashi in the face causing blood to spill out from his mouth from the impact alone. Kensei didn't stop there and just continued punching Hayashi over and over again without stopping for a moment. Despite feeling the impacts and pain from the touki-infused punches from him, Hayashi didn't make a single attempt at fighting back.

Realizing that there were continues that he needed to do, Kensei stopped and realized that there were just many deep dark blue bruises on Hayashi who just coughed up blood. He just allowed his touki to vanish from around himself and turned, then picked up his katana which fell to the ground.

"This is over."

Kensei said in a low tone as he started walking away.

"*Cough* *Cough* Hahaha, no…this isn't over yet."

He didn't stop walking away, but his footsteps became slower and slower by the second as he could still hear the words from Hayashi.

"It would've been best if you…cut ties with everyone…no, that girl you fought so hard to protect. Because, if you believe that you'll be able to acquire freedom with this little rebellion, then you're wrong. That girl is the daughter of an exorcist and pure-blooded devil. Neither the church or old devils including that First Bael would let her exist as it'll be a shame that nether side will let live. Do you believe that you can fight against both sides? Among the Underworld, some powerful devils answer to the old devils. And from the church, there is more powerful exorcist who's far above me. Two of them, in particular, are ones you'll never be able to overcome…but one of them whose hailed as the strongest may be more understandable. But, the other is far more dutiable in following their old teachings and would even kill her himself is possible. You'll end up fighting enemies a lot more powerful than me in the future…hahahaha…*cough* *cough*."

Kensei stopped walking for a second and sheathe the katana, then without turning around, he gave his response.

"Thanks for the advice, but I was expecting I'd have to fight more people," Kensei replied. "But, let me also inform you about something. If that 'Demon' you fought against two years ago were at top condition, then there wouldn't have been anything that would've saved you or those old bastards from being slaughtered."

"…while we're on the subject. Don't you want to know what happened to her body?"

Hearing that question caused Kensei to stop for a moment as he glanced towards him, he knew who Hayashi is talking about causing a dangerous blue shine in his eyes.

"After I shot her through her heart and you were detained after a short outburst. Her corpse was sold off to some unknown buyer. Who knows what happened to her corpse or not, maybe it was someone from a magician group doing experiments or maybe it was some weirdo who…gaaah."

Before Hayashi could finish, he felt his sword being yanked out of his cybernetic arm and stabbed into his heart, which effectively ended his life. There was no emotion in his eyes aside from total contempt.

"Consider yourself lucky to have lived this long."

After saying those last words with more coldness in his voice, Kensei turned around and started walking outside of the arena.

[What a wondering ending to a climactic fight between the Last Amagiri and Blind Swordsman! It was an amazing thing to act as the arbiter for this tournament! So, I bid all of you farewell! Kensei Amagiri is hereby the last winner of the Gehenna Tournament!]

Kensei ignored the announcement and continued running outside of the building arena through the usual exit. He soon made it outside of the arena where he still realized that there were people who were still panicking about all that happened, as well as not being able to leave.

"Doing that didn't make me feel better. It doesn't change anything," Kensei said as he clenched his teeth before he looked forward with a determined look. "But, I can't leave here until I do one last thing. Now, where the hell is all of you bastards."

As Kensei continued running using senjutsu to sense out the area in an attempt to locate "them" and start getting a general hint in their location. After realizing "their" location, he started running in that direction.

* * *

Located behind one of the buildings in Paradise, Taro had led the four old devils who had been on Hagun Island at the time. In that location was a hidden transport magic circle, which was used for emergencies for just Taro, as well as those close to him. The four old devils looked relieved, while Taro, on the other hand, looked panicked as his hair was in complete disarray and his clattering against one another.

"A-Alright as planned, as soon as you all leave. I'll head to my office and receive all my earning and follow you."

"All the earning from the gehenna tournament will without a doubt be essential for our future," the old devils said in a reassuring tone, but there was evil within their minds. _"Foolishness as if we'll work alongside a human. We'll have to bide our time in hiding. With all that's happened, Sirzechs won't let this incident slide since all this could leave to a potential confrontation between the Underworld and Shinto Gods."_

The other three old devils shared the same opinion as him as Taro finished activating the magic circle.

"Yes, Hayashi should be finished dealing with that brat. And then…."

"Fūtan."

That sudden voice accompanied by the four wind bullets, which possessed strong spiritual power smashed against the old devils pushing back their bodies. Each of them felt an odd sensation spread across their bodies as neither of them was able to amass their demonic powers. Seeing Kensei who wasn't fighting against Hayashi caused Taro to become far more terrified about the situation.

"Just for this occasion, I altered those bullets to have more purifying power in them and senjutsu," Kensei said, while walked in their direction holding his unsheathed katana in hand. "I had trouble with Hayashi, but I doubt that I'll have a single bit an issue dealing with a bunch of old pompous men and a human close to a mental breakdown."

All four old devils tried attacking him but still couldn't amass their demonic power after being hit with those four wind bullets. Before either of them could react Kensei vanished using the same technique that he had used against Hayashi to enhance his speed, then slashed their bodies causing wounds across their bodies.

"Aaaaaah! You little bastard!"

""Aaaah!""

"Shiiiit!"

Kensei glanced and noticed the four old devils were wailing in pain as their bodies were cut, neither of the wounds was even close to being fatal.

"All of you must've believed that you could just cause harm to others without repercussions, because of your position and never considered that would come back and bite you."

"You little brat! Don't think that we'll just…!"

"Shut up."

Kensei pulled out several talismans from his pocket and launched them towards the old devils who were still downed on the ground. As soon as they had come into contact with them, each of them started sparkling before all of them were electrocuted using lightning from them, which wrapped around them as if they were dragons coiling around their bodies.

[[[[Gagagagagagagaga!]]]]

"This is a mid-level lightning spell that has purification power imbued into it and it should keep you from using any demonic power for a little bit. I don't want to waste stamina right now to fight you four."

Taro started running toward the magic circle to vanish but stopped after another talisman landed on it causing the spell to vanish.

"Eiiiiiii!"

Taro squealed as he turned to face Kensei who was still walking toward him not stopping for anything.

"W-Wait, let's talk about this. I'm sorry for everything that happened, there is a lot of earnings saved from all this," Taro pleaded as he waved his hands in front of Kensei to get him to stop. "Come on, don't do anything rash! I'm a normal human, what am I supposed to do?! I can't fight! I can't do anything! Isn't is your clan's job to project…!"

Taro stopped after realizing that Kensei had vanished from sight and appeared in front of him without making his presence known.

"Fuee."

Kensei breathed as he recalled the motions that he learned from Sun Wukong when learning Hakkyokuken, the motions and posture that could generate power. In his fist, there was also senjutsu that has gathered into his fist that was approaching Taro's abdomen.

"Pleeeeeease!"

"Raaaaah!"

Responding to Taro's plea, Kensei roared as senjutsu and touki covered his fist expanding outwards for a moment and his fist collided with his abdomen. The impact alone caused a loud sound that resounded across the back streets as a large amount of blood spewed from his mouth and even some bones broke from the impact, which sent him upwards into the air before landed hard onto the ground coughing up blood.

"Huff huff huff. Don't ever approach either of us again."

Kensei said to all five of them as he turned around letting a large breath escape from his mouth and started walking away. Leaving Taro who lied on the ground coughing up blood while his body shook and the old devils who were still injured enchained by the lightning wrapped around them.

* * *

Located in the residential area, Zane, Rui, and Claire arrived back, neither of them showed signs of being injured in the slightest. After seeing that all of them had gathered here in the magic circles that he asked them caused a smile to appear on Zane's face.

"Yes, this is perfect."

Zane said as he walked towards them, but he smiled wryly noticing the frown that was on Claire's face, which Rui also shared as the three-headed towards them.

"Welcome back everyone!"

Hisui said as she ran toward them, smiling a bit after noticing the look on Claire's face.

"Come on, Claire don't frown like that. You'll ruin that cute face of yours."

"Humph."

Claire glanced to the side with a huff, it was obvious that she noticed what Kensei had done during his fight with Hayashi to win and as expected it didn't make her happy. Of course, Claire was happy that he did win, but he did something reckless again.

"Don't look like Claire."

This time Alice said as she approached them with a faint smile on her face, which caused the frown on her face to alter a little more until it turned normal.

"You're right. I expect nothing else from him, but he should expect to be scolded after this."

"Then, I believe that it would be safer to remain here."

Kensei said in a joking manner as he started to approach them with a tired look on his face, his movements felt a little heavier than usual. He still had enough strength to make it there before passing out, but before he did both Claire and Alice had arrived in front of Kensei catching him into their arms.

"Haven't seen you this exhausted in a long time. As always, you go above and beyond for us."

Alice laughed as she held him in her arms.

"You know that I'm going to scold you after you healed, right?"

"Yea, I'm looking forward to that. But, at least I kept my promise."

Kensei replied to Claire who his usual smile on his face, with Claire returning that smile and nodded.

"Yea."

She recalled the words that he had said before leaving:

'As soon as all this is over. I want you and Alice to live at my home…and that'll be the place that the three of all can call our home. All the people without a place to call home can live in my hometown, it's large enough to where every people here could live there in peace. Since it's where the Amagiri Clan resides, there's no way those from the other clans will complain.'

Claire started to hug Kensei tighter to a smile on her face with Hisui and Rui near them sharing the same feeling as this nightmare was close to being behind them.

"Well, what're you all waiting for?!"

Zane shouted catching the attention of everyone who smiled as well.

"Let's leave this place!"

[Yea!]

In the same location where Sun Wukong and Yu-Long had left Kensei who entered the magic circle, both of them waited there to see for themselves the status of the young child.

"Hmm, when is he going to come out?"

"Calm down, it hasn't been that long since he entered."

Sun Wukong replied as he was also a little worried about the status of the child who he trained as his student for a month, but these worries soon vanished after noticing several lights in front of them. And he gave a bright smile as he realized one of the presence. Seconds later, what appeared before their eyes were several students all of which measured to be over one hundred. Both monkey and dragon heard all of them yelling in amusement after they were all finally free.

"There were many children on that island?"

"Well, looks like my little student succeeded in freeing them all."

Sun Wukong replied with a smile as he noticed Kensei sleeping on the ground lying on the lap of the gray-haired girl, which the monkey king guessed based on her aura was Claire Belial. Though he was injured, at least he was alright with those he cared about.

"Well, let's go and tell Xuanzang Sanzang that everything alright."

"Wait, old man look."

After hearing Yu-Long, Sun Wukong glanced toward the direction of his former student and smiled wider than he had before. Kensei held his hand up toward their direction with both his fingers in a "V-shape" and he realized its meaning while smirking a bit as if he noticed their presence.

"I can't wait to see you again in the future."

After saying those final words, Yu-Long also smiled and flew off without their presence being known to the others but Hisui also smiled noticing what that meant.

"Nii-san what're you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," Kensei replied as he realized that both Sun Wukong and Yu-Long remained there just to check on them. Afterward, he glanced towards Claire whose lap he laid on top of and smiled. "Let's go home."

"Yea."

Claire smiled back as the others around him felt relieved that everything went alright for them.

* * *

In another location that didn't exist in the Human World, which gave off a presence that could some from those of a sacred or divine existence. This was Takamagahara, which was known as the Plain of High Heaven where the Shinto gods reside. In one of the places on Takamagahara, there was a private hot spring that no one else aside the current occupant could enter (at least without permission). The location was filled with steam from the spring, but the silhouette of a black-haired woman could be seen, but her exact appearance couldn't be determined.

"Ah, this is one of the pleasures that I love to enjoy~"

Her voice was almost melodious, which could attract the attention of those who heard her and held maturity in it.

"Amaterasu-sama."

A sudden voice called her name, which came from the Yatagarasu who flew near her landed on one of the rocks nearby catching her attention.

"Has something happened?"

Amaterasu questioned, in which Yatagarasu nodded his head, but his tone wasn't urgent.

"Yes, but not anything bad. That child, Kensei Amagiri was able to suppress those on this Hagun Island and save those he wanted to rescue. And currently, all of them have taken refuge in Kibou Town."

"Ah, that's wonderful. I believed that he could pull it off."

Amaterasu replied in a tone displaying happiness about the news, but she looked upwards as a slight sigh came out of her mouth.

"What's wrong, Amaterasu-sama?"

"That incident could lead to larger troubles for him in the future. There were a lot of people from the underworld…and I'm not just referring those were devils resides. Humans. Despite what people believe, there are humans can be just as vicious and dark as the beings who reside in darkness. And since Kensei and the others intervened in and ruined one of their business, he could become a target for them in the future. Though, it's not like that I can get involved in all his troubles and solve them for him…not that he would want me to either way."

"Because gods can always solve the issues of humans. If that were the case, then what would be the point of us giving them blessings to fight. And it would be the same as parents solving the issues of their children all the time without giving them the chance for growth. Isn't that right, Ama-tan?"

Another male voice came from behind Amaterasu and Yatagarasu, but their backs were turned away from her so that he wouldn't see her naked figure. This man's voice displayed the kind of time that one would expect from an elder who's gone through a lifetime of experience.

"That's correct," Amaterasu smiled as she didn't turn to face him as she knew him. "But, I wish that you wouldn't call me 'Ama-tan' like I'm a child, Futsunushi."

The one Amaterasu referred to as was her general/vanguard hailed as a God of Swords.

"Hahaha, but I find it too adorable! It suits you."

Though he couldn't see it, he could tell or at least guess that Amaterasu had pouted in response to that and let a sigh escape from her mouth.

 _"Well, let's see what happens next for you…Kensei."_

* * *

Several hours have passed since the succession of the Hagun Island Rebellion, where Kensei found himself being on top of a soft surface and wrapped in a warm sensation. It also made him not want to get out of his soft bed, he soon opened his eyes after recognizing the sensation.

"Huh?"

Kensei question opening his eyes until he found himself inside of his old room. He couldn't mistake himself being anywhere else as all the typical things could be found inside such as the posters from anime and figurines that all were aligned near his TV, even the framed photos were the same. Kensei also winced after noticing that there is a sharp pain on his shoulder and entire body, then realized that there were bandages wrapped around himself.

"Right, someone must've patched me up and healed my injuries a bit," he surmised before a yawn escapes out of his mouth. "I feel better after getting some rest, but I still feel a little sore."

"Nnn."

Kensei noticed that another person was sleeping beside him, then removed the covers a bit and found out that it was Alice who sleeps peacefully next to him. She wasn't dressed in the same "clothing" that was provided to all of them and it was instead some actual girls' pajamas, which Kensei didn't know how she got since his mother wasn't close to her size and his clothing was of course for boys. Kensei also realized that Alice had held onto his arm in a comforting manner, which caused him to smile.

"Alice."

Kensei held his finger out and poked her in the cheek many times causing her to groan in dissatisfaction.

"…hmm….stop….it…."

"Alice, time to wake up."

"…don't wanna…bed…too soft."

Kensei laughed to himself after hearing that response from her but stopped after something delicious made it to his nose. It wasn't something that he could've smelled on Hagun Island and it was something that he had longed a long time for.

"…a real breakfast," Kensei said as he was almost close to tears. "Alice if you want breakfast, then you'll have to go and get it."

"…can you bring it…to me?"

"Nope. If you don't get up, I'll bear cold water on you."

"…meanie."

Alice muttered in her Italian accent as she leaned up and got from under the covers.

Coupled with the fact that she still felt a little bit tired, she didn't want to get out of his soft bed, but she still got out of bed since she desired to get her breakfast. Sighing to himself, Kensei assisted Alice could of bed and headed downstairs where the smell started getting stronger and more pleasant.

"So, Alice where did you get those clothes."

"…explain later…. ….breakfast first…."

"Fine."

Kensei replied as both of them made it to the last step, where he found that their television in the living room had been turned on and was playing the opening song of an old anime that he hadn't seen in ages. In the kitchen, he also found a sight that he couldn't help, but smile at. There stood Claire dressed in pajamas that had an adorable design, while wearing an apron, which read "Chief Cook".

"Good Morning~! Nii-san! Alice-nee!"

Hearing her cheerful tone caused both their hearts to soar, as well as noticing the full course breakfast that was placed on the dining room table.

"Ah, this is an amazing looking breakfast that you prepared."

"Ufufufufu, of course, this is my cooking prowess."

Claire replied in confidence as she pointed her chest outward placing both her hands on her hips, but Kensei had realized that there were more plates than just the three of them.

"But, isn't this a little much for the three of us?"

"Of course, more people are coming here."

After hearing that from Claire, the three of them heard knocks on the front door, which later cause Kensei to walk in the direction of the door. Once he opened it, there was the familiar arrival of his friends and allies that he had met on Hagun Island.

"Yo."

"Good morning, Ken Ken."

"Thanks for having us."

It was the usual group of Zane, Hisui, and Rui.

"Morning, I hope we aren't intruding."

"Hello."

"…hi."

Joined with the trio were Maria, Layla, and Iris who hid behind them. He also noticed that all of them were also all dressed in different clothing.

"Hey, guys. Come on in."

Kensei replied to their greetings, then stepped aside letting them all enter his home and each of them was nearly overcome by the smell of Claire's cooking.

"Ah, it's been a long time since I smelled a home-cooked breakfast."

Zane stated as he took a seat on the couch after picking up the breakfast that Claire had prepared for them and soon after everyone began eating at either the dining room table or on the couch in the living room. Everyone in the room remained silent for a moment just eating their breakfast while watching whatever was on TV. For each of them, it had been a long time since they felt this kind of peace. After drinking from the orange juice poured into his cup, Kensei let out a relieved sigh.

"So, what happened after I passed out?"

"Well, since you told us where Kibou Town was located beforehand. We were able to arrive here with a transport magic circle, then we brought you into your wound and Abigail wrapped you up and healed your injuries. It was also suggested that Hisui use senjutsu to wake you up, however, Abigail had thought that it would be best that all of us let you sleep normally. I'm sorry, but since neither of us had any place to sleep. We just slept in the places that belonged to the Amagiri Clan."

"That's fine, I'm just glad that everyone was able to get some sleep. There was nothing there right."

"Yea, it was weird, but the place was kept clean and there wasn't even a single bit of dust. Neither of us wouldn't have even thought that it's been a long time since someone used it."

Zane explained causing Kensei to recall the condition of his home after returning for the first time in two years.

"That means someone's been taking care of the place since I left. One more thing, why's everyone all dressed in those clothes?"

"Right, do you recall me mentioning that there was something else that I needed to do back on Hagun Island?"

"Yea."

"And do you recall all the earning that Taro earned from Hagun Island?"

"Yea."

Kensei replied again causing Zane to give a confident smile as he held his finger us with a smirk.

"I took most…if not all of it."

"Huh?"

He was shocked about what Zane had said, which the others inside of the room all nodded to signify that what he said was correct.

"Most of it was used to buy as least some clothes for us to change in," Zane added before calling up his grimoire out of nowhere. "I also found some interesting techniques that Taro attained from the old devils, which I recorded in the Magus Akashic. I think that one of them was information about the game fields used in rating games that were used for gehenna. There were also some other things that I believe would work to our favor."

"Seriously, so you stole all that from Taro?"

Kensei questioned letting out a slight laugh.

"I'd rather think of it is reparations, but Taro would call it sealing. Besides, how else would we be able to support all the people here? I doubt that it would be fine to just hold up in the shrine of the Amagiri Clan forever, so I think that it would be a good idea to build a place where everyone can live. All the money that I took from Taro will be able to support everyone for years no issues at all."

Kensei could understand Zane's reasoning and realized how lucky he was to be friends to someone as smart as him who thought of all this at a moment's notice.

"What'd you do to them anyway?"

Maria questioned Kensei guessing that was the reason that he didn't come back after winning against Hayashi.

"Oh, I didn't have to stamina or time to finish him and those old devils off. But, I did spend a lot of senjutsu into him and just left him there. Even if he survived that, I doubt he'll live longer."

"What makes you think that?"

Layla questioned.

"There are little to methods to defending against senjutsu let alone healing the damage done depending on what it was used for. Using it in a basic alone could server ones' life-force, as well as cause internal damage. If it was by Ken Ken the way I think it was, then I doubt that Taro will be able to do anything and even death wouldn't be a surprise. If there is a way to heal him, then it would have to be another senjutsu user, but most of the people that I know who could heal it for him wouldn't…so options for healing him is nonexistent even by using healing magic, which is rare or a sacred gear."

Hisui explained the chances that Taro could survive what Kensei had done to him.

"Well, whatever I'm just glad that everything worked out."

Rui added after leaning against the couch content about everything.

"So, what do you all plan on doing?"

"What're you talking about?"

Layla answered the question that Kensei asked with another question.

"Well, don't mos to if you still have parents or living relatives?"

Hearing Kensei's question caused most of them to glance towards the other.

"My parents are still alive and living in a house somewhere in England. Since I was kidnapped out of nowhere they will without a doubt be concerned, so I'll visit them just to let them know that I'm fine."

Maria replied.

"I lived in an orphanage since my parents thought that was a freak due to my sacred gear. So, I don't care either way as long as I'm around Sis or Iris."

Layla added.

"…I don't have parents."

That low toned response caused everyone aside from Maria and Layla to glance towards her.

"What does that even mean?"

Alice questioned.

"You mean that you can see them are your parents?"

In response to Claire's question, Iris hid behind Maria and shook her head answering her question, which meant that she was being serious. This could mean that she didn't know her parents and could've been abandoned.

"It's a little complicated, but Iris came from somewhere in the church. I'll explain some other time."

"Well, that aside my mother is apart of the East Youkai Faction, but she works as a doctor for anyone who needs help and sometimes also works in Kyoto."

"What about your father?"

Rui questioned with a slight smirk on her face, which caused Hisui's expression to falter into a nervous smirk.

"Ah, well. I don't think that I'll visit him and just tell Kaa-chan to tell him that I'm fine."

"Why's that?"

Claire questioned with a smirk on her face after noticing that this was the first time that the playful Hisui fell into a nervous demeanor.

"You two are just mean! I love my father, but he's too doting and suffocating…Kaa-chan had to use senjutsu just to get him to pass out down after I started going to school and didn't want me to leave home. If I were to tell him about Ken Ken, then he wouldn't let me remain here and that would break my heart!"

"Rui-san, you wouldn't happen to know where her father lives?"

"That's just too cruel! I would die of heartbreak without Ken Ken."

Hisui declared as she jumped onto Kensei wrapping her arms around him in a dramatic manner.

"Seriously, how do you contact him?"

Claire again questioned after noticing Hisui getting that close to Kensei, which caused the people in the room to laugh a little bit.

"Well, rivalries for Kensei aside. My parents still live in Kyoto, I'll visit them after a while."

Rui added after seeing her friend being dramatic about Kensei.

"My parents and relatives live in Northern Europe in a household meant for those descending from by Wayland the Smith. I will visit them to know that things are alright."

"Uh, I doubt that my parents or friends would want to see me again."

Alice replied with a fearful look as she just stared at her shadow, which caused others to know what that meant. If others suffered from others due to just their normal sacred gears, then it would mean that Alice went through someone worse since hers is among the top Longinus.

"That reminds me, Claire. Isn't you...uh, I believe cousin the Rating Game Champion, Diehauser?"

"U-Uh, yes, but I've never met anyone from the Belial Clan. Kaa-san thought that it would be better if no one in our clan found about me yet since it could cause trouble for them. During the Great War, there were some issues that our ancestors caused at that time and in the future, which caused their status to falter and fell to where those in the Belial Territory fell into financial difficulties until Diehauser become the Rating Game Champion. But, I…."

"I'm sorry that I brought it up."

"N-No, it's fine."

Claire becomes more nervous after thinking about meeting those from the Belial Clan, to where she pressed both her index fingers together.

Zane was feeling ashamed that he asked her that question, to begin with.

"So, what about Kensei and his father?"

"What a good friend to deflect the attention toward someone else," Kensei had said sarcastically. "Well, even before all this happened, we weren't all that close. There were rare times when I could go over and to just see him and my stepmother who I was closer to. There is also my little brother."

"Eh?"

"What?"

"You have a little brother?"

"Right, I never wanted to bring it up while I was on Hagun Island," Kensei replied as he took a sip from the glass of juice in his hand. "If I remember correctly, he should be around six-years-old now. There was also that time at least two years back that he'd always follow me around whether I went. If anything, then I wouldn't probably go if not to just see them. My dad is kind of a person to hard understand unless you know him and doesn't really…express himself."

"Is there anything else that you forgot to mention?"

Claire questioned.

"Uh, nothing in particular."

Kensei replied as he glanced to the side knowing that there were two things…those being the two girls who were in the same picture that could trigger Claire.

"Are you sure?"

"What about that pink-haired girl? And the blonde-haired girl with nine-tails and ears?"

Upon hearing both girls being mentioned, Kensei started to turn in the opposite direction as Claire and Alice had stared at him with the former's eyes being more intense after the mere mention of the two other girls.

"…nine-tailed girl? …oh, Ken Ken you dog."

Hisui replied knowing that there was one person, in particular, who fits that description, but her lost comment had caused their looks to become more intense.

"W-Well, anyway why don't we have a toast?"

Kensei questioned standing up to his feet holding the glass that still had some juice in it, which was his attempt to change the subject.

"Well, I guess that it customary."

Maria replied standing up and holding her glass alongside Layla and Iris.

"Yea, this sounds cool. I think that I'll remain here after returning home for a while," Zane added glancing toward the people around him and noticed that Claire still had her eyes on Kensei. _"_ _Kensei is going to need someone to be one his side if things continue like this."_

"Same here. I couldn't imagine life without you all."

"I fell the same way."

Hisui and Rui shared the same opinion as Zane, then held up their glasses.

"I'll always remain with Kensei and Claire."

"Same, since this is our home now," Claire said with a smile before glancing towards Kensei. "Though Nii-san, an explanation will be required later about those girls."

"Hahaha, fine," Kensei laughed nervously as he looked around at the friends that he had made going through the hell known as Hagun Island causing him to give a genuine smile. "Here's to leading a brand new life! Cheers!"

[Cheers!]

All nine of them lightly tapped their glasses against one another, in which a ringing sound that traveled across the living room where all of them stood. Each of them including Layla and Iris smiled after realizing that they've made such good friends and allies that all of them could trust and believe in. And all four of them looked forward toward the freedom-filled lives that were ahead of them.

* * *

 **A/N: And there goes the fourteenth chapter of DxD – The Last Amagiri,** **well this is the final climactic end of the "Rebellion on Hagun Island Arc".** **Everyone had continued with their fight against the guards with a lot of them showing more of what they're capable of. And after Kensei ends his long battle against his mother's murderer who left him** **with some foreboding words for the future and later gave both Taro and those four old devils a beating that they deserved. Everyone is now living in Kibou Town, which is under the control of the Amagiri Clan** **and due to Zane it seems that everyone will be taken care of.**

 **So, until next time.**

 **Kensei's Harem: Alice, Claire, Hisui, Kunou, Yasaka, Lu Lingqi, Mirana, Sarah, Minako, Koneko, Kuroka, Ravel, Amaterasu, Brynhildr.**


End file.
